Final Unfinished Voyage Jack Aubrey (Paperback)

At the time of his death Patrick O'Brian was halfway through a novel to follow on from Blue at the Mizzen. These are the chapters he had completed of the final voyage of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin - the greatest friendship of modern literature. 

The story picks up from the end of Blue at the Mizzen when Jack Aubrey receives the news of his elevation to flag rank: Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. This new novel would have been a chronicle of that mission, and much else besides.

The three chapters left on O'Brian's death are presented here both in printed version - including his corrections to the typescript - and a facsimile of his manuscript, which goes several pages beyond the end of the typescript and includes marginal notes by O'Brian.

And so this great roman fleuve comes to an end with Jack sailing the Surprise with his 'sacred blue flag' through fair, sweet days; Stephen with his dissections and new love; Killick muttering darkly over the toasted cheese … Of course, we would rather have had the whole story; instead we have this proof that O'Brian's powers of observation, his humour and his understanding of his characters were undiminished to the end.
 

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 lived for many years in south west France, and died in Dublin in January 2000.

Patrick O’Brian is best known for the Aubrey–Maturin series, acclaimed by Richard Snow in ‘The New York Times’ as ‘the best historical novels ever written’. Here is a list of the Aubrey-Maturin series in order of publication:

Master and CommanderPost CaptainHMS SurpriseThe Mauritius CommandDesolation IslandThe Fortune of WarThe Surgeon’s MateThe Ionian MissionTreason’s harbourThe Far Side of the WorldThe Reverse of the MedalThe Letter of Marquethe Thirteen-gun SaluteThe Nutmeg of ConsolationClarissa OakesThe Wine-dark SeaThe CommodoreThe Yellow AdmiralThe Hundred DaysBlue at the Mizzen