Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback by Harper Perennial with stunning new jackets. 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 which decimates the crew. The ingredients ...
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Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback by Harper Perennial with stunning new jackets. 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 which decimates the crew. The ingredients of a wonderfully powerful and dramatic O'Brian novel are heightened by descriptive writing of rare quality. Nowhere in contemporary prose have the majesty and terror of the sea been more effectively rendered than in the thrilling chase through an Antarctic storm in which Jack's ship, under-manned and out-gunned, is the quarry not the hunter.
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Seller's Description:
O'Brian, Patrick., Harper Perennial, 2007, c1978, later printing, illus. soft cover (trade size paperback), fine, 313 pp plus 27 pp reader's guide, B&W frontis, 8vo, ISBN: 9780007255870, 'Captain Aubrey, RN, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, set against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars', Naval Historical Fiction.
Patrick O'Brian wrote 20 novels in this series and Desolation is one of the overall best. The action is intense, the story believable and the characters will cause anyone who reads this to catch AMS - the Aubry/Matrian Syndrome!
More than a nautical tale, it is a story about a relationship between a ships capitan (Jack Aubry) and his "particular" friend and surgen, Stephen Matrian. Beyond that is the intregue that comes with the special duties that Maturian conducts.
Most start with the first book in the series, not this 5th one, but each are written as a complete book so you can start with Desolation Island as it is a complete story on its own.
There are none who have done historical fiction better than O'Brian. His details make every story come alive.
