Book description
Caesar is a tale of survival, love, and loyalty, by a young O'Brian who
was rightly hailed, even at fifteen, as the 'boy-Thoreau'. The
fascinating career of the literary genius behind Aubrey-Maturin begins here.
'I dimly felt sorry that I had needlessly killed these two useless
things, for though I was hungry I could not bring myself to eat these
smelly men.'
Written when Patrick O'Brian was just fourteen, this is the enchanting,
bloodthirsty story of Caesar - whose father was a giant panda, but his
mother a snow leopard. With the dry wit and unsentimental precision
O'Brian would come to be loved for, we see the tragedies of Caesar's
childhood, his capture and taming, and finally his rise to fatherhood
under the iron rule of human masters. 'Full of the fantasy that has
made O'Brian's seafaring yarns such a success. Caesar is full of
engaging adventures, curious lore, fond descriptions of food and scenes
of battle… and delightful, often hilarious reading.'
David Sexton, Evening Standard
'We can see here a true storyteller in the making.'
JULIET TOWNSEND, Literary Review
'A delightful story told in the first person by an unlikely hybrid
panda-cum-leopard. Sustained and well-written… ['Ceasar'] highlights the
foundations of O'Brian's mastery of writing, his value far beyond that
of a historical novelist.'
MARTIN BOOTH, Daily Telegraph
'O'Brian admirers can now appreciate another dimension to his writing'
ALEX O'CONNELL, The 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.
