Book description
This is the story of Richard Temple - prisoner of war, sometime
adventurer, lover and artist - told with insight, empathy and drama by
one of the world's master storytellers.
Captive in a brutal German prison towards the end of World War II,
Richard Temple has been stripped of everything that once defined him:
pride, courage, his very identity have all been surrendered in a
desperate bid to protect his secrets from the Nazis.
But with the real Richard Temple suppressed to the point of
near-extinction, a sudden respite in his torture allows him a moment of
rare release, when he can lower his guard and remember who he is.
Huddled in his cell, too badly beaten to move, the action of the novel
takes place in the Richard's mind as he retraces a convoluted course
from an unhappy childhood, through a vague and uncertain adolescence to
a complex, compromised adulthood, shot through with artistic sensibility
and the myriad impulses that make a man.
Patrick O'Brian's signature combination of narrative flair, intuitive
sympathy and psychological insight make this a fascinating exploration
of how passive resistance can be a form of courage and what it truly
means to be a hero. '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.' Irish Times
'The best historical novels ever written.' New York Times
Any contemporary novelist should recognize in Patrick O'Brian a Master
of the Art.' Sunday Telegraph 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.
