Search results for ""Author Patrick O'Brian""

Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon Stephen Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy—and a treacherous disease that decimates the crew. With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the undermanned, outgunned Leopard sails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic, where, in mountain seas, the Dutchman closes.

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Ardent, gregarious British naval officer Jack Aubrey is elated to be given his first appointment as commander: the fourteen-gun ship HMS Sophie. Meanwhile—after a heated first encounter that nearly comes to a duel—Aubrey and a brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, strike up an unlikely rapport. On a whim, Aubrey invites Maturin to join his crew as the Sophie’s surgeon. And so begins the legendary friendship that anchors this beloved saga set against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Through every ensuing adventure on which Aubrey and Maturin embark, from the witty parley of their lovers and enemies to the roar of broadsides as great ships close in battle around them, O’Brian “provides endlessly varying shocks and surprises—comic, grim, farcical and tragic.… [A] whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit” (A. S. Byatt).

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For a man of war, peacetime is the ultimate challenge. Leaving behind them a Europe still taking stock after the definitive battle of Waterloo, Jack Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin set sail for Chile. But even with the newly minted peace, life at sea remains beset with danger and imminent disaster, and the political turmoil of the South American continent is equal to any threat they have yet faced. Out of loss – of purpose, of love – can the two friends rescue what they most desire? ‘Beyond his superbly elegant writing, wit and originality, [O’Brian] showed an understanding of the nature of a floating world at the mercy of the wind and sea which has never been surpassed.’MAX HASTINGS, Evening Standard ‘From the opening page I was addicted to what I judge to be one of the greatest cycles of storytelling in the English language.’WILLIAM WALDEGRAVE, Daily Telegraph

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Napoleon has escaped from Elba – the Hundred Days have begun. The war is over, the armies dispersed, and the former Emperor of the French has been consigned to a Mediterranean island, yet now he is marching again on Paris with an ever-growing army. Commodore Jack Aubrey and his convoy are tasked with destroying enemy shipyards along the Adriatic coast and cutting off the financial support from that quarter, in a fast and furious race to stop the Corsican from regaining all he’s lost. All is to play for and everything is at stake. ‘Patrick O’Brian is far and away the best of the Napoleonic story tellers, and The Hundred Days is one of the best in the series; a classic naval adventure, crammed with incident, superbly plotted and utterly gripping.’BERNARD CORNWELL ‘Patrick O’Brian is a joy to read.’ Irish Independent

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The higher one climbs, the further there is to fall. As war with Napoleon seemingly draws to a close, opportunities for advancement are limited and Jack Aubrey faces the ultimate indignity – the possibility of being ‘yellowed’, or retired, and set aside with no squadron of his own. But the blockade of Brest presents dangers to equal those of the furthest shores. Who poses the greater threat to a naval man through and through? A resurgent Bonaparte or the Admiralty itself? ‘On every page [O’Brian] reminds us with noble artistry of the most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don’t, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our own lives.’RICHARD SNOW, New York Times ‘These novels are a brilliant achievement. They display staggering erudition on almost all aspects of eighteenth-century life.’ Times Literary Supplement

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There is a fine line between privateer and pirate, between friend and foe. With a beleaguered Britain already facing war on two fronts – against Napoleon’s armies in Europe but also against the young and vigorous United States – the objective of ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin is to light the touch paper of Peruvian revolutionary fervour, all while Captain Jack Aubrey engages with their many and varied enemies at sea. Will revolution in South America tip the balance Britain’s way? ‘The truth is that we aficionados scarcely feel them to be novels at all. They are a world of their own, a world full of excitement, mystery, charm and good manners of which we have ourselves become participating citizens.’JAN MORRIS, Observer ‘[O’Brian] goes on that very small shelf reserved for authors who, disregarding aptitudes, spin a story out of the heart and soul of their experience and the joy of living.’ Times Literary Supplement

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Can Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew defy the odds, and outmanoeuvre the French, to take two small but vital islands in the Indian Ocean? Life ashore on half pay, despite the joys of family life, is unlikely to satisfy a man of action such as Jack Aubrey. The sea calls to him. And so, when his friend, ship’s surgeon and secret agent Stephen Maturin, arrives with secret orders, Aubrey soon finds himself in command of a frigate and setting sail for the Cape of Good Hope. But, in Nelson’s navy, there are as many enemies within as without. ‘A few books work their way . . . onto [bestseller] lists by genuine, lasting excellence – witness The Lord of the Rings, or Patrick O’Brian’s sea stories.’URSULA K. LE GUIN ‘I devoured Patrick O’Brian’s twenty-volume masterpiece as if it had been so many tots of Jamaica grog.’CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

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Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life as a privateer. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin—his friend, ship’s surgeon, and sometimes intelligence agent—on a diplomatic mission to prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes that would put English merchant shipping at risk. Along their journey, Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and, in the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang, a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well entrenched in the Sultan’s good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.

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On foreign shores, and far from home, a friend can become a foe in a heartbeat. Shipwrecked on an uninhabited island in the Dutch East Indies as the Napoleonic Wars rage on, circumstances look far from promising for Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew. And yet, having overcome the odds and contrived their escape, still further peril awaits in the fiercely tidal waters of the Salibu Passage and the penal settlements of New South Wales. What fresh dangers lie over the horizon and will Jack Aubrey prevail? ‘In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real first-rater.’MARY RENAULT ‘I’ve read [Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey‐Maturin nautical novel‐cycle] three times now, not least for its beautiful portrayal of a long‐term male friendship.’ROBERT MACFARLANE

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On dry land, having been drawn into the half-worlds of London’s criminal underground and of government espionage, Jack Aubrey faces perhaps the greatest challenge of his life. With rumours of peace running rampant, Captain Jack Aubrey chances his luck on the stock exchange. However, when his plans go awry, Marshalsea prison awaits. Can Stephen Maturin rescue his friend from a politically motivated trial and the enormity of being stricken from the Navy Lists? When the world has turned its back against you, friendship is all. ‘The most brilliant historical novelist of modern times.’MAX HASTINGS ‘[Patrick O’Brian has] the power of bringing near to the reader . . . savagery and tenderness, beauty and mystery and boldness and dignity.’EUDORA WELTY

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In this, the first of Patrick O’Brian’s much lauded Aubrey–Maturin novels, discover a vibrant world conjured by a master storyteller, rich with detail and character. 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte is the biggest threat to peace yet seen. Newly promoted to command of his first ship, Captain Jack Aubrey, along with his crew, and new friend and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, must patrol a Mediterranean fraught with peril but rich with rewards. A glimpse of white sails on the horizon could mean a prize to be taken – or a fight for survival. ‘In Aubrey and Maturin, Patrick O’Brian has created two of the most enjoyable characters in twentieth-century fiction. One of the greatest authors to sail with.’MICHAEL PALIN ‘There are two types of people in the world: Patrick O'Brian fans, and people who haven't read him yet.’LUCY EYRE, Guardian

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Shipwrecked on a remote island in the Dutch East Indies, Captain Aubrey, surgeon and secret intelligence agent Stephen Maturin, and the crew of the Diane fashion a schooner from the wreck. A vicious attack by Malay pirates is repulsed, but the makeshift vessel burns, and they are truly marooned. Their escape from this predicament is one that only the whimsy and ingenuity of Patrick O'Brian—or Stephen Maturin—could devise. In command now of a new ship, the Nutmeg, Aubrey pursues his interrupted mission. The dreadful penal colony in New South Wales, harrowingly described, is the backdrop to a diplomatic crisis provoked by Maturin's Irish temper, and to a near-fatal encounter with the wildlife of the Australian outback.

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The war of 1812 continues, and Jack Aubrey sets course for Cape Horn on a mission after his own heart: intercepting a powerful American frigate outward bound to play havoc with the British whaling trade. Stephen Maturin has fish of his own to fry in the world of secret intelligence. Disaster in various guises awaits them in the Great South Sea and in the far reaches of the Pacific: typhoons, castaways, shipwrecks, murder, and criminal insanity.

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The first novel Patrick O’Brian ever wrote about the sea – and the precursor to the famous Aubrey-Maturin series. The Golden Ocean is the first novel Patrick O’Brian ever wrote about the sea. The novel shares the same sense of excitement and the rich humour of the Aubrey-Maturin novels, invoking the eloquent style and attention to historical detail that O’Brian readers admire so much. The protagonist of this story is Peter Palafox, son of a poor Irish parson, who signs on as a midshipman, never before having seen a ship. He is a fellow who would have delighted the young Stephen Maturin or Jack Aubrey … and quarrelled with them as well. Together with his life-long friend Sean, Peter sets out to seek his fortune, embarking on a journey of danger, disappointment, foreign lands and excitement. Written in 1956, this is a tale certain to please not only the many admirers of O’Brian, but any reader with an adventurous soul.

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With factions on board, and multiple enemies to contend with, only the most careful navigation will save them. As he sails away from Port Jackson, Captain Jack Aubrey feels nothing but relief at leaving the penal colony and its inhabitants far behind. But, unknown to him, hidden among his crew is one Clarissa Oakes. With Britain at war on two fronts, with both America and France, Aubrey’s orders are to make for the Sandwich Islands and intervene in the conflict there. How much trouble can one woman cause? ‘One moment you laugh out loud at comedy rooted in character, and the next, storming adventure or danger grips you by the throat . . . good writing allied to must-read-on storytelling.’SHAUN USHER, Daily Mail ‘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 MYERS, Irish Times

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Britain and America are newly at war, and Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are caught in the very thick of the action. En route to England and his next command, Captain Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship’s surgeon and secret agent Stephen Maturin, find themselves swept up in the War of 1812. As Aubrey convalesces from his wounds in a Boston hospital, awaiting the next prisoner exchange, Maturin’s past activities as a spy return to haunt him and precipitate both men into new and unexpected dangers. Love and betrayal vie for supremacy as the two friends face peril around every corner. ‘The Fortune of War is a marvellously full-flavoured, engrossing book, which towers over its current rivals in the genre like a three-decker over a ship’s longboat.’T. J. BINYON, Times Literary Supplement ‘There is nothing in this century that rivals Patrick O’Brian’s achievement.’AMANDA FOREMAN

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Whether on land or at sea, can Jack Aubrey stay one step ahead of his enemies? With the Treaty of Amiens, England is at peace. At least for now. . . Accompanied by his friend, ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, Captain Jack Aubrey has returned home to England and the life of a country gentleman. But their comfortable experience is cut short when Jack is made a pauper overnight. He flees to the continent, narrowly escaping debtor’s prison, only to find himself a hunted fugitive from Napoleon’s regime as, yet again, war looms. ‘Outstanding dialogue, characterisation, humour and a golden thread of romance.’KATIE FFORDE ‘The Aubrey–Maturin novels, by Patrick O’Brian, are so addictive that after I finish one I have to hide the next from myself for a little while in order to do anything else but read.’LOUISE ERDRICH

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Napoleon has been defeated at Waterloo, and the ensuing peace brings with it both the desertion of nearly half of Captain Aubrey's crew and the sudden dimming of Aubrey's career prospects in a peacetime navy. When the Surprise is nearly sunk on her way to South America—where Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are to help Chile assert her independence from Spain—the delay occasioned by repairs reaps a harvest of strange consequences. The South American expedition is a desperate affair; and in the end Jack's bold initiative to strike at the vastly superior Spanish fleet precipitates a spectacular naval action that will determine both Chile's fate and his own.

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A British whaler has been captured by an ambitious chief in the Sandwich Islands at French instigation, and Captain Jack Aubrey is dispatched with the Surprise to restore order. But stowed away in the cable-tier is an escaped female convict. To the officers, Clarissa Harvill is an object of awkward courtliness and dangerous jealousies. Aubrey himself is won over and indeed strongly attracted to this woman who will not speak of her past. But only Aubrey’s friend, Dr. Stephen Maturin, can fathom Harvill’s secrets: her crime, her personality, and a clue identifying a highly-placed English spy in the pay of Napoleon’s intelligence service. In a thrilling finale, Patrick O’Brian delivers all the excitement his many readers expect: Aubrey and the crew of the Surprise impose a brutal pax Britannica upon the islanders in a pitched battle against a band of headhunting cannibals.

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A classic Patrick O’Brian novel, back in print after many years with three bonus tales of nautical adventure. Newly orphaned Derrick is entrusted to the care of his gruff uncle Sullivan, Captain of The Wanderer. After surviving a killer typhoon on the South China Sea, and accompanied by their eccentric elderly cousin, they set off across land to discover the treasures of Central Asia. Derrick befriends a fierce Mongol warrior and must help him battle a ruthless Chinese warlord. Given a gift of priceless jade, the group is pursued into the inhospitable mountains of Tibet where they are caught between fierce mountain monks and a terrifying unnamed creature that stalks them through the snow. This special edition includes three bonus tales - Noughts and Crosses, Two’s Company & No Pirates Nowadays - that are prequels to the adventure of The Road to Samarcand, and are published together for the very first time.

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An enemy frigate is outward bound to play havoc with the vital British whaling trade, and must be stopped at all costs. Racing against time, Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew must chase the USS Norfolk as she rounds Cape Horn, pursuing her into the Great South Sea and beyond. Following the equator, ahead of them lies not only the natural wonders of the Galapagos but also a succession of disasters – men overboard, castaways, typhoons, shipwrecks, to say nothing of murder and criminal insanity. In a deadly game of cat and mouse with their American foes, will Jack Aubrey and his crew triumph, despite the odds? ‘If O’Brian’s novels have become a cult, this is because they are truly addictive. . . They are, quite magnificently, adventure yarns whose superb authenticity never distracts from the sheer thrill of the action.’CAROLINE MOORE, Sunday Telegraph ‘I love these books . . . They will sweep you away and return you delighted, increased and stunned’NICOLA GRIFFITH, NPR

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Out of print for many years, this is a brand new edition of the definitive companion to the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, written by the author himself. What was daily life in Nelson's navy really like, for everyone from the captain down to the rawest recruit? What did they eat? What songs did they sing? What was the schedule of watches? How were the officers and crew paid, and what was the division of prize-money? These questions and many more are answered in Patrick O'Brian's elegant narrative, which includes wonderful anecdotal material on the battles and commanders that established Britain's naval supremacy. The meticulously researched text and imagery together provide an unparalleled insight into life during wartime in the Napoleonic era, and offer a wonderfully evocative companion to the world of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.

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Thrown out of the navy for a crime he did not commit, Jack Aubrey has lost everything he held most dear. In command of his beloved Surprise, but in a civilian capacity, Jack Aubrey must navigate a world apart from anything he has previously known, his friend Stephen Maturin at his side. Together they embark on a voyage which, if successful, might just restore Aubrey to the rank, and the raison d'etre, whose loss he so much regrets. Fate is fickle and few people can ever truly be trusted, but has Jack Aubrey’s luck run out? ‘Patrick O’Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.’JAMES HAMILTON‐PATERSON ‘My hero is Patrick O’Brian. It’s basically impossible to write that well.’DAVID MAMET

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Loving someone, in a time of war and divided loyalties, can be the greatest risk of all. Ordered home by despatch vessel, Captain Jack Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin have been tasked with bringing the news of the latest victory in the war with America back to the government in Britain. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought upon the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers who pursue their ship soon become menacing. In this man's world of seamanship and war, will a dangerous but fascinating woman redress the balance? ‘I have no particular interest in the sailing or fighting of square‐rigged ships, but I’ve never been so attached to any fictional characters in my life.’MAILE MELOY ‘A swelling tide of intrigue and adventure in the best tradition.’ Guardian

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On Desolation Island, with the known world out of reach, uneasy alliances are sometimes forged… Captain Bligh, of Bounty fame, is now governor of New South Wales and facing mutiny anew, having lost the support of local settlers. Jack Aubrey is commissioned to come to his rescue. With a beautiful but dangerous spy on board, along with an unwelcome hold full of convicts, and war with America brewing, can Captain Jack Aubrey reach Australia in one piece? Outmanned and outgunned in a thrilling chase through an Antarctic storm, the crew of HMS Leopard discover they have become the quarry not the hunter. ‘What is so gripping about O’Brian’s novels is the completeness with which he invents a world which is our own and not our own . . . O’Brian is a brilliant observer.’A. S. BYATT, Evening Standard ‘I fell in love with his writing straightaway. It wasn’t primarily the Nelson and Napoleonic period, more the human relationships . . . It’s about friendship, camaraderie. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin always remind me a bit of Mick and me.’KEITH RICHARDS

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The Complete Short Stories is the most comprehensive collection of O’Brian’s short fiction ever published. An essential volume, certain to enchant O’Brian admirers as well as readers who are fortunate enough to be journeying with him for the very first time. Patrick O’Brian is acclaimed as one of the greatest historical novelists of the twentieth century, celebrated throughout the world for his masterful roman fleuve, the Aubrey‒Maturin series. But he was also a prolific writer of short stories, and it is in this form that he first made his mark. Encompassing stories written in his unvarnished youth to tales told by a seasoned traveller, this is the most comprehensive collection of O’Brian’s short fiction ever published. It is a treasure chest, overflowing with riches, containing more than sixty tales, including rarities, uncollected works, and forgotten jewels that have been out of print for decades. These are stories of friendship, travel, adventure and the wonders of the natural world. Some are enchantingly funny, others exciting, terrifying, passionate. All of them prove Patrick O’Brian to be a true master of the form.

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Life ashore may once again be the undoing of Jack Aubrey in The Yellow Admiral, Patrick O'Brian's best-selling novel and eighteenth volume in the Aubrey/Maturin series. Aubrey, now a considerable though impoverished landowner, has dimmed his prospects at the Admiralty by his erratic voting as a Member of Parliament; he is feuding with his neighbor, a man with strong Navy connections who wants to enclose the common land between their estates; he is on even worse terms with his wife, Sophie, whose mother has ferreted out a most damaging trove of old personal letters. Even Jack's exploits at sea turn sour: in the storm waters off Brest he captures a French privateer laden with gold and ivory, but this at the expense of missing a signal and deserting his post. Worst of all, in the spring of 1814, peace breaks out, and this feeds into Jack's private fears for his career. Fortunately, Jack is not left to his own devices. Stephen Maturin returns from a mission in France with the news that the Chileans, to secure their independence, require a navy, and the service of English officers. Jack is savoring this apparent reprieve for his career, as well as Sophie's forgiveness, when he receives an urgent dispatch ordering him to Gibraltar: Napoleon has escaped from Elba.

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Having survived a long and desperate adventure in the Great South Sea, Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin return to England to very different circumstances. For Jack it is a happy homecoming, at least initially, but for Stephen it is disastrous: his little daughter appears to be autistic, incapable of speech or contact, while his wife, Diana, unable to bear this situation, has disappeared, her house being looked after by the widowed Clarissa Oakes. Much of The Commodore takes place on land, in sitting rooms and in drafty castles, but the roar of the great guns is never far from our hearing. Aubrey and Maturin are sent on a bizarre decoy mission to the fever-ridden lagoons of the Gulf of Guinea to suppress the slave trade. But their ultimate destination is Ireland, where the French are mounting an invasion that will test Aubrey's seamanship and Maturin's resourcefulness as a secret intelligence agent. The subtle interweaving of these disparate themes is an achievement of pure storytelling by one of our greatest living novelists.

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In H.M.S. Surprise, British naval officer Jack Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin face near-death and tumultuous romance in the distant waters ploughed by the ships of the East India Company. Tasked with ferrying a British ambassador to the Sultan of Kampong, they find themselves on a prolonged voyage aboard a Royal Navy frigate en route to the Malay Peninsula. In this new sphere, Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy who enjoys overwhelming local superiority. But somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could secure him a marriage to his beloved Sophie and make him rich beyond his wildest dreams: the ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet.

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The adventure continues . . . At the time of his death, Patrick O'Brian had begun to write the twenty-first book in his famous and much-loved Aubrey–Maturin series. The chapters he left behind are presented here, both in printed version and a facsimile of his manuscript, which goes several pages beyond the end of the typescript and includes O’Brian’s own marginal notes. The story picks up from the end of Blue at the Mizzen when Jack Aubrey receives the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. ‘This fragment is both delightful and tantalising, with hints of a plot that might have involved Jack and Stephen with St Helena or Napoleon himself.’ Literary Review

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To whom does one’s true allegiance lie? Jack Aubrey’s long service has at last been rewarded with promotion to the rank of commodore, and a squadron of ships to command. His new commission is twofold – first, inhibit the slave trade off the coast of West Africa, and then, on his return, intercept a French fleet loaded with weapons intended for the disaffected Irish. But will the conflict of loyalties be insurmountable for his friend, and Irishman, Stephen Maturin? ‘His novels are . . . as delicately perceptive about the human condition as the Jane Austen novels that O’Brian himself so much admired.’CHRISTINA HARDYMENT, Independent ‘One of the most brilliantly sustained pieces of historical fictional writing this century.’JAMES TEACHER, Spectator

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Entrusted with a secret mission, the perils of the South China Sea await. In the fight against the French, a treaty with the Sultan of Pulo Prabang, a piratical Malay state, may prove decisive. Captain Jack Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, along with a hand-picked crew, must survive the dangers of the high forties and convey a diplomatic envoy to ensure this key alliance, but dangers, both natural and man-made, will dog their every move. When echoes of the past return, no one is safe. ‘If Jane Austen had written rousing sea yarns, she would have produced something very close to the prose of Patrick O'Brian.' Time ‘Written with the most engaging enthusiasm that can’t fail to give pleasure to anybody who enjoys historical adventure flavoured with more than a dash of realism.’ Sunday Times

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Malta, in 1813, is ostensibly a safe harbour, yet the island is a nest of French spies, and even those in authority are not to be trusted. As Captain Jack Aubrey cools his heels in a Maltese harbour, awaiting repairs to his ship, war rages on. Fearing that hostilities will end before he has any further opportunities for fame and fortune, Aubrey accepts several secret missions, but all is not as it seems. Will a double agent be the undoing of both Jack Aubrey and his friend, ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin? ‘This is O’Brian at his brilliant entertaining best. When he is on this form the rest of us who write of the Napoleonic conflict might as well give up and try a new career.’BERNARD CORNWELL ‘Captain Aubrey and his surgeon, Stephen Maturin, compose one of those complex and fascinating pairs of characters which have inspired thrilling stories of all kinds since the Iliad.’IRIS MURDOCH & JOHN BAYLEY

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Whether close to home or far away, there are no safe harbours while Napoleon seeks to dominate the known world. Jack Aubrey, veteran of numerous battles, has been promoted to senior captain commanding a ship that has been sent out to reinforce the squadron blockading Toulon. Compared to the early days of the Napoleonic conflict, the action is slow, cold and dull. But a sudden turn of events takes Aubrey, and ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where the skill, daring and, indeed, luck of both men will be tested to the utmost. With so much at risk, will a Turkish alliance carry the day? ‘I envy those who have never read Patrick O’Brian: an enormous pleasure awaits you.’ Irish Times ‘Wonderfully spacious, generous, funny, intelligent books.’JOHN LANCHESTER

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The second book Patrick O’Brian wrote about the sea and a brilliant sequel to The Golden Ocean. As in The Golden Ocean, The Unknown Shore tells the tale of another ill-fated ship on Anson’s expedition round the world – the Wager. Parted from her squadron in the fearful storms off Cape Horn, the Wager struggles on alone up the ironbound coast of Chile, before she is driven onto rocks and sinks. The survivors include Jack Byron, a midshipman, and his eccentric protégé Toby, an alarmingly naive surgeon’s mate with a single-minded devotion to zoology. Faced with a surplus of rum, a disappearing stock of food, and a hard, detested captain, the survivors soon descend into trouble of every kind, including drunkeness, mutiny and bloodshed. As they make their way northwards under the guidance of a band of stony and depraved Indians, they at last find safety and good treatment in Valparaiso. Admirers of O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels will see in Jack Byron a matter-of-fact, bluff precursor to the great Jack Aubrey. Whilst Toby, raging in Greek against a corrupt Member of Parliament, stripped by thieves in the Farthing Pie House, asking the Commodore to carry his snake, arousing the darkest suspicions in the Chilean Inquisition, is an amiable companion whose vagaries afford endless diversion on a hard and dramatic journey.

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An anthology of 17th and 18th century travel writing that inspired the hugely popular Aubrey/Maturin series, collected and introduced by Patrick O’Brian, beautifully repackaged to mark the centenary of his birth. Patrick O’Brian has unearthed from obscurity the most dynamic travel writing of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. With his scholarly mind, editor’s eye, and traveller’s heart he brings together a series of thrilling seaward tales. Expertly chosen by O’Brian and prefaced with details that bring these extracts to vivid life, A Book of Voyages is a broad yet intimate portrait of what life was like at sea during a time of discovery. This rare collection sheds a glorious light onto these accounts of seaward adventure. From why eating rats is necessary and how to powder your hair in France to how to truly face fear and distress during a terrifying sea passage, this collection is rich in travellers’ experiences. A Book of Voyages is a unique opportunity to not only accompany an adored nautical author as he digs up one gripping historical treasure after another, but to understand how he was inspired to write the Aubrey Maturin series for which he is so famous.

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How far will a man go in the name of revenge, honour, love or simple survival? Far from familiar seas, Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew must test themselves to the very limits of human endurance. Following a daring rescue, Jack Aubrey accepts a new command and a new commission to a far-flung destination. Ahead of him and his crew are the new sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and the terrifying hazards of an archipelago of islands in the East Indies, where their French enemies have near overwhelming superiority. ‘Combines adventure and the art of the novel with an astonishing finesse.’FRANCIS SPUFFORD ‘Few, very few, books have made my heart thump with excitement. HMS Surprise managed it.’HELEN LUCY BURKE, Irish Times

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Beasts Royal is the second book written by Patrick O’Brian – made available, at last, for the first time since the 1930s and beautifully repackaged. Published when Patrick O’Brian was just nineteen, this is the enchanting, often bloodthirsty collection of twelve tales of animal adventure that would be published in 1934 as the author’s second book. His first, Caesar, had been published in 1930 and was an instant success, seeing O’Brian hailed as the ‘boy-Thoreau’. As with Caesar, Beasts Royal sheds fascinating light on the formation of the literary genius behind the Aubrey-Maturin series of historical adventure tales. With the dry wit and unsentimental precision O’Brian would come to be loved for, we see the tragedies of …

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Celebrate the joys of Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series with this delightful cookbook, full of the food and drink that so often complement Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin's travels. Collected here are authentic and practical recipes for such eighteenth- and early-nineteenth- century dishes as Burgoo, Drowned Baby, Sea-Pie, Solomongundy, Jam Roly-Poly, Toasted Cheese, Sucking Pig, Treacle-Dowdy, and, of course, Spotted Dog. Also included are historical notes on the origins of the dishes as well as sections on the preparing of roasts, puddings, and raised pies."[A] splendid cookbook...graced with erudite bits of naval and gastronomical history....Deftly researched and written in prose nearly as funny as O'Brian's own."—Publishers Weekly "A thoroughly readable cookbook, as well as a useful appendix to a great series of novels and a newly opened window into a time now nearly 200 years gone."—San Jose Mercury News

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