Ordered home by despatch vessel, Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin have been tasked with bringing the news of the latest victory in the war with America back to the government in Britain. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought upon the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers who pursue their ship soon become menacing.
In this man's world of seamanship and war, will a dangerous but fascinating woman redress the balance?
'I have no particular interest in the sailing or fighting of square-rigged ships, but I've never been so attached to any fictional characters in my life.'
MAILE MELOY
'A swelling tide of intrigue and adventure in the best tradition.'
Guardian
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 seventh book in the series.