Mauritius Command #4

Author: Patrick O'Brian

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 22.99 AUD
  • : 9780006499183
  • : HarperCollins Publishers Limited
  • : Harper Element
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  • : 0.28
  • : February 1997
  • : 197mm X 130mm
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  • : 22.99
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  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • : Aubrey/Maturin Ser.
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  • : Illustrations, maps
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Barcode 9780006499183
9780006499183

Description

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.

Awards

Winner of Heywood Hill Literary Prize 1995.

Reviews

'...full of the energy that comes from a writer having struck a vein... Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.' James Hamilton- Paterson '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.' Kevin Myers, Irish Times 'Patrick O'Brian has written splendid novels -- of which The Mauritius Command is the latest -- recounting episodes in the lives of the naval officer Jack Aubrey and his friend the saturnine Irish physician, Stephen Maturin... Taken together, the novels are a brilliant achievement. They display staggering erudition on almost all aspects of early nineteenth-century life, with impeccable period detail. [Compared to Bush and Hornblower] Aubrey and Maturin are subtler, richer items; in addition, Patrick O'Brian has a gift for the comic which Forester lacks.' T.J. Binyon, Times Literary Supplement 'O'Brian has a monumental knowledge of Naval history of the time. Nothing is glamorised. The press gangings, the floggings, the squalor are all here. But here, too, are heroism and humour.' Mark Kahn, Sunday Mirror 'The Mauritius Command is outstanding' Observer

Author description

Patrick O'Brian, one of our greatest contemporary novelists, is the author of the acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. His first novel, Testimonies, and his Collected Short Stories were recently republished by HarperCollins. 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 was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Trinity College, Dublin. He died in January 2000 at the age of 85.