Book description
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be
the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now, for the
first time, they are available in electronic book format, so a whole new
generation of readers can be swept away on the adventure of a lifetime.
This is the twentieth book in the series.
'If we had only two or three of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin
series, we would count ourselves lucky; with six or seven the author
would be safely among the greats of historical fiction… This is great
writing by an undiminished talent. Now on to Volume Twenty, and the
liberation of Chile.' WILLIAM WALDEGRAVE, Literary Review
This is the twentieth book in Patrick O'Brian's highly acclaimed,
bestselling series chronicling the adventures of lucky Jack Aubrey and
his best friend Stephen Maturin, part ship's doctor, part secret agent.
The novel's stirring action follows on from that of The Hundred Days.
Napoleon's hundred days of freedom and his renewed threat to Europe have
ended at Waterloo and Aubrey has finally, as the title suggests, become
a blue level admiral. He and Maturin have - at last - set sail on their
much postponed mission to Chile. Vivid with the salty tang of life at
sea, O'Brian's writing is as powerful as ever whether he writes of naval
hierarchies, night-actions or the most celebrated fictional friendship
since that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Blue at the Mizzen also
brings alive the sights and sounds of revolutionary South America in a
story as exciting as any O'Brian has written. '… full of the energy
that comes from a writer having struck a vein… Patrick O'Brian is
unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.' James Hamilton-Paterson
'You are in for the treat of your lives. Thank God for Patrick O'Brian:
his genius illuminates the literature of the English language, and
lightens the lives of those who read him.' Kevin Meyers, Irish Times
'In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real
first-rater.' Mary Renault
'I never enjoyed a novel about the sea more. It is not only that the
author describes the handling of a ship of 1800 with an accuracy that is
as comprehensible as it is detailed, a remarkable feat in itself. Mr
O'Brian's three chief characters are drawn with no less sympathy that
the vessels he describes, a rare achievement save in the greatest of
writers of this genre. It deserves the widest readership.' Irish Times
Patrick O'Brian, until his death in 2000, was one of our greatest
contemporary novelists. He is the author of the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin
tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He is the author
of many other books including Testimonies, and his Collected Short
Stories. In 1995 he was the first recipient of the Heywood Hill Prize
for a lifetime's contribution to literature. In the same year he was
awarded the CBE. In 1997 he received an honorary doctorate of letters
from Trinity College, Dublin. He lived for many years in South West
France and he died in Dublin in January 2000.
