Treason's Harbour (Aubrey Maturin Series) - Softcover

O′brian, P

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393308634 ISBN 13: 9780393308631

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992

Synopsis

All of Patrick O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage; for the dockyards and salons of Malta are alive with Napolean's agents, and the admirality's intelligence network is compromised. Marturin's cunning is the sole bulwark against sabatage of Aubrey's daring mission.

About this title

Review:

This segment of the Aubrey saga is set in Malta, where the captain's "small, sweet-sailing frigate" is undergoing repairs. The island, however, is swarming with Napoleonic agents, which means that Stephen Maturin must do everything in his power to avert sabotage. A typical O'Brian cocktail of action and intrigue.

Review:

There is not a writer alive whose work I value over his.--Stephen Becker

The Aubrey-Maturin series . . . far beyond any episodic chronicle, ebbs and flows with the timeless tide of character and the human heart.--Ken Ringle

I haven't read novels [in the past ten years] except for all of the Patrick O'Brian series. It was, unfortunately, like tripping on heroin. I started on those books and couldn't stop.--E. O. Wilson

I devoured Patrick O'Brian's 20-volume masterpiece as if it had been so many tots of Jamaica grog.--Christopher Hitchens

O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin volumes actually constitute a single 6,443-page novel, one that should have been on those lists of the greatest novels of the 20th century.--George Will

O'Brian's narrative...provides endlessly varying shocks and surprises--comic, grim, farcical and tragic. An essential of the truly gripping book for the narrative addict is the creation of a whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit, and O'Brian does this with prodigal specificity and generosity.--A. S. Byatt

[O'Brian's] Aubrey-Maturin series, 20 novels of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars, is a masterpiece. It will outlive most of today's putative literary gems as Sherlock Holmes has outlived Bulwer-Lytton, as Mark Twain has outlived Charles Reade.--David Mamet

The best historical novels ever written. . . . On every page Mr. O'Brian reminds us with subtle artistry of the most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don't, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our own lives.--Richard Snow

Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.--James Hamilton-Paterson

It has been something of a shock to find myself--an inveterate reader of girl books--obsessed with Patrick O'Brian's Napoleonic-era historical novels. . . . What keeps me hooked are the evolving relationships between Jack and Stephen and the women they love.--Tamar Lewin

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0393308634
• ISBN 13: 9780393308631
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368