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
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their beginning, with Master and Commander, these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback with smart new livery. This is the fourth book in the series.