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.
‘[O’Brian] has shown us that in our literary silver age, authentic
gold can still be mined… He is a man whose books you would dare to
give to Sterne; whose conversation would have delighted Coleridge.
It is his misfortune, but our great good luck, that he is our
contemporary and not theirs.’
William Waldegrave, The Times ‘To read Patrick O’Brian is to turn
the pages of literary history. His series of novels comprises the
most significant extended story since Anthony Powell’s A Dance to
the Music of Time.’
Alan Judd, Sunday Times
'[O'Brian] has shown us that in our literary silver age,
authentic gold can still be mined... He is a man whose books you
would dare to give to Sterne; whose conversation would have
delighted Coleridge. It is his misfortune, but our great good luck,
that he is our contemporary and not theirs.'
William Waldegrave, The Times
'To read Patrick O'Brian is to turn the pages of literary
history. His series of novels comprises the most significant
extended story since Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of
Time.'
Alan Judd, Sunday Times
On the high seas in the early years of the 19th century, when full-rigged sailing ships carried cargoes of treasure and slaves and privateers were a continual threat, surgeon-spy Stephen Maturin and his good friend Capt. Jack Aubrey have set sail for South America. Their ship is a privateer with a crew more than ready to board and capture anything in their path. This 16th entry in O'Brian's long-running saga opens as the two men and their crew encounter a volcanic eruption and continues as Maturin, engaged in diplomatic scheming, heads for Peru, where he finds an exotic array of birds and animals as well as opportunities for espionage. Readers already familiar with the series will enthusiastically welcome this new chapter; others may find the references to earlier adventures and distant characters confusing. The plot groans under detailed descriptions of everything from managing the sails to galley-table etiquette. Recommended for libraries holding O'Brian's earlier works. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/93.-- Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svces., Ridgecrest, Cal.
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