Desolation Island #5 [Paperback]

Captain Bligh (yes, the guy from the Bounty) needs to be rescued, and the Royal Navy has the perfect man for the job: Captain Jack Aubrey. With his friend and cloak-and-dagger expert Stephen Maturin in tow, Aubrey sets off for Australia. Several factors, including an attractive spy and a small-scale epidemic, conspire to change his plans, and before long his frigate is being pursued into Antarctic waters by a Dutch man-of-war. Five installments into the series, the Aubrey-Maturin story remains (to quote The Observer) "the best thing afloat since Horatio Hornblower." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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 'In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real first-rater.' Mary Renault

Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon, Stephen Maturin, sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy — and a treacherous disease which decimates the crew.

Descriptive writing of rare quality heightens the ingredients of a wonderfully powerful and dramatic O’Brian novel. Nowhere in contemporary prose has the majesty and terror of the sea been more effectively rendered than in the thrilling chase through an Antarctic storm in which Jack's ship, under-manned and out-gunned, is the quarry not the hunter.

"Good history, fascinating erudition, espionage, romance, fever in the hold, a wreck in lost latitudes, and an action at sea that sheer descriptive power can match anything in sea fiction." --Guardian

"If Jane Austen had written rousing sea yarns, she would have produced something very close to the prose of Patrick O'Brian." --Time

"A first rate tale of the sea." --Robertson Davies --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 have recently been republished by HarperCollins. He has translated many works from French into English, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and the first volume of Jean Lacouture`s biography of Charles de Gaulle. 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 also awarded the CBE. In 1997 he was given an honorary doctorate of letters by Trinity College, Dublin. Patrick O`Brian died in January 2000.

This abridgment continues the late O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. It takes the pair of up-and-coming Royal Navy stars to the Indian Ocean just before the War of 1812. Full of action, historical detail, and unforgettable characters, this work is handsomely performed by Tim Pigott-Smith. The experienced actor has a stately voice that does justice to the dialogue and is splendid when performing the battle scenes. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.