The Mauritius Command - Hardcover

O’Brian, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000222383X ISBN 13: 9780002223836

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin tales are now widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. All eighteen books are being re-issued in hardback by HarperCollins with stunning new jackets.

Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half-pay without a command ― until his friend, and occasional intelligence agent, Stephen Maturin, arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope, under a Commodore’s pennant.

But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains ― Lord Clonfert, a pleasure-seeking dilettante, and Captain Corbett, whose severity can push his crews to the verge of mutiny.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick O’Brian, until his death in 2000, was one of our greatest contemporary novelists. He is the author of the acclaimed Aubrey–Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He is the author of many other books including Testimonies, and his Collected Short Stories. 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 awarded the CBE. In 1997 he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Trinity College, Dublin. He lived for many years in South West France and he died in Dublin in January 2000.

From the Back Cover

In 'The Mauritius Command', Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half-pay without a command until his friend, and occasional intelligence agent, Stephen Maturin, arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a Commodore's pennant. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains – one a pleasure-seeking dilettante, the other liable to provoke the crew to mutiny.

Based on the actual campaign of 1810 in the Indian Ocean, O'Brien's attention to the detail of early nineteenth-century life ashore and at sea is meticulous. This tale is as beautifully written and as gripping as any in the series; it also stands on its own as a superlative work of fiction.

"Aubrey has a captured store of 'foie gras' and Chateau Lafite, and his violin for consolation. Dr Maturin joins in on the 'cello between sips of opium, supervising spies and studying such exotica as dodo birds and giant tortoises. When news comes from home that the strawberries have failed and Mrs Aubrey is pregnant again, one understands with rare poignancy why sailors like to stay at sea."
NEWSWEEK

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 000222383X
• ISBN 13: 9780002223836
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384