"The best sea story I have ever read."―Sir Francis Chichester
It is the dawn of the nineteenth century; Britain is at war with Napoleon's France. Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson's navy, is promoted to command of H.M.S. Sophie—an old, slow brig unlikely to make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a brave and gifted seaman, his thirst for adventure and victory immense. With the aid of his friend Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and secret intelligence agent, Aubrey and his crew engage in one thrilling battle after another, their journey culminating in a stunning clash with a mighty Spanish frigate against whose guns and manpower the tiny ?Sophie? is hopelessly outmatched.
These books include: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian 9780393325171, The Golden Ocean 9780393315370, The Unknown Shore 9780393315387, and The Thirteen-Gun Salute 9780393309072.
“You're in for a wonderful voyage.”
- People
“O'Brian is a novelist, pure and simple, one of the best that we have.”
- Los Angeles Times Book Review
“If there were seventeen more novels, I'd start today.”
- Donald Graham, Wall Street Journal
“Patrick O'Brian can put a spark of character into the sawdust of time.”
- Observer
“Taken as a whole, the Aubrey-Maturin novels are by a long shot the best things of their kind... they are uniquely excellent.”
- Terry Teachout, New York Times Book Review
“The best historical novels ever written.”
- Richard Snow, New York Times Book Review
“One does not get many pages into the Aubrey-Maturin sequence before falling under the spell of O'Brian's prose, which is... elegantly paced, quietly witty.”
- Katherine A. Powers, Atlantic Monthly
“If Jane Austen had written rousing sea yarns, she would have produced something very close to the prose of Patrick O'Brian.”
- Time
In The Thirteen-Gun Salute, Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy (a false accusation), he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer, brilliantly chronicled in The Letter of Marque. 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 which would put English merchant shipping at risk.
The journey of the Diane encompasses a great and satisfying diversity of adventures. 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.
"In length the series is unique; in quality―and there is not a weak link in the chain―it cannot but be ranked with the best of twentieth century historical novels."―T. J. Binyon, Independent
The Golden Ocean is the first novel Patrick O'Brian ever wrote about the sea, a precursor to the acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series.
In the year 1740, Commodore (later Admiral) George Anson embarked on a voyage that would become one of the most famous exploits in British naval history. Sailing through poorly charted waters, Anson and his men encountered disaster, disease, and astonishing success. They circumnavigated the globe and seized a nearly incalcuable sum of Spanish gold and silver, but only one of the five ships survived.
This is the background to the first novel Patrick O'Brian ever wrote about the sea, a precursor to the acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series that shares the excitement and rich humor of those books. The protagonist is Peter Palafox, son of a poor Irish parson, who signs on as a midshipman, never before having seen a ship. Together with his lifelong friend Sean, Peter sets out to seek his fortune, embarking upon a journey of danger, disappointment, foreign lands, and excitement.
Here is a tale certain to please not only admirers of O'Brian's work but also any reader with an adventurous soul.
"In the present case the names were provided for me, together with the whole sequence of events, just as they were for Homer, Virgil, and many others....I was fortunate enough to have great material, and I wrote the book in about six weeks (or was it less?), laughing most of the time."―Patrick O'Brian on the writing of The Golden Ocean
The Unknown Shore is the sequel to The Golden Ocean and an immediate precursor to Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series, displaying all the splendid prose and attention to detail that O'Brian's readers expect.
Patrick O'Brian's first novel about the sea, The Golden Ocean, took inspiration from Commodore George Anson's fateful circumnavigation of the globe in 1740. In The Unknown Shore, O'Brian returns to this rich source and mines it brilliantly for another, quite different tale of exploration and adventure.
The Wager was parted from Anson's squadron in the fierce storms off Cape Horn and struggled alone up the coast of Chile until she was driven against the rocks and sank. The survivors were soon involved in trouble of every kind. A surplus of rum, a disappearing stock of food, and a hard, detested captain soon drove them into drunkenness, mutiny, and bloodshed. After many months of privation, a handful of men made their way northward under the guidance of a band of Indians, at last finding safety in Valparaiso.
This saga of survival is the background to the adventures of two young men aboard the Wager: midshipman Jack Byron and his friend Tobias Barrow, an alarmingly naive surgeon's mate. Patrick O'Brian's many devoted readers will take particular interest in this story, as Jack and Toby form a kind of blueprint for Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, the famed heroes of the great Aubrey/Maturin series to come.
