H.M.S. "Surprise" - Softcover

O'Brian, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006141811 ISBN 13: 9780006141815

Publisher: Fontana Press, 1975

Synopsis

The third in the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, following the variable fortunes of Jack Aubrey's career in the Nelsonic story as he accepts a commission to convey a British ambassador to the East Indies.

About this title

Review

O'Brian is astonishingly good.

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

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

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

Gripping and vivid a whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit. --A. S. Byatt

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

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

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

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

I fell in love with his writing straightaway, at first with Master and Commander. It wasn t primarily the Nelson and Napoleonic period, more the human relationships. And of course having characters isolated in the middle of the goddamn sea gives more scope. It s about friendship, camaraderie. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin always remind me a bit of Mick and me. --Keith Richards

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

[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

A first-rate tale of the sea.... I read it with absorption and satisfaction. --Robertson Davies"

Few, very few, books have made my heart thud with excitement. H.M.S. Surprise managed it. I read it cruising through the tame Adriatic, and several times found myself forced to pace about the deck to calm my pulse.... Patrick O'Brian's erudition is phenomenal, as is his capacity for creating another completely believable world. He convinces with his total accuracy even in tiny details. --Helen Lucy Burke"

Few, very few, books have made my heart thud with excitement. H.M.S. Surprise managed it. I read it cruising through the tame Adriatic, and several times found myself forced to pace about the deck to calm my pulse.... Patrick O'Brian's erudition is phenomenal, as is his capacity for creating another completely believable world. He convinces with his total accuracy even in tiny details. --Helen Lucy Burke"

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"

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

A first-rate tale of the sea.... I read it with absorption and satisfaction.--Robertson Davies

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

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

Book Description

H.M.S. Surprise, the third in O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, follows the variable fortunes of Captain Jack Aubrey's career in Nelson's navy....

About this edition

• Publisher: Fontana Press
• Publication date: 1975
• ISBN 10: 0006141811
• ISBN 13: 9780006141815
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 317