Synopses & Reviews
The 13th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin series.
Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy (on a false accusation), he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer, brilliantly chronicled in The Letter of Marque. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin–his friend, ships surgeon and sometimes intelligence agent–on a diplomatic mission to prevent between Bonaparte and the Malay princes which would put English merchant shipping at risk.
The journey of the Diane encompasses a great and satisfying diversity of adventures. Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and in the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well entrenched in the Sultans good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.
“OBrian infuses his novels with so much energy, texture and drollery that its easy to be swept along for the voyage. Add to this the superb reading of actor Tim Pigott-Smith and you have something approaching audiobook heaven.”
---The Express-Times
About the Author
Patrick OBrians many novels include Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore, in addition to twenty volumes in the highly respected Aubrey/Maturin series. OBrian wrote acclaimed biographies of Pablo Picasso and Sir Joseph Banks and translated many works from the French, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Lacoutures biography of Charles de Gaulle. Mr. OBrian died in January 2000.