Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
The classic first novel of the treasured Aubrey/Maturin series, widely considered “the best historical fiction ever written” (New York Times).
Ardent, gregarious British naval officer Jack Aubrey is elated to be given his first appointment as commander: the fourteen-gun ship HMS Sophie. After a heated first encounter that nearly comes to a duel—Aubrey and a brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, strike up an unlikely rapport. On a whim, Aubrey invites Maturin to join his crew as the Sophie’s surgeon. And so begins the legendary friendship that anchors this beloved saga set against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.
Through every ensuing adventure on which Aubrey and Maturin embark, from the witty parley of their enemies and lovers to the roar of broadsides as great ships close in battle around them, O’Brian “provides endlessly varying shocks and surprises—comic, grim, farcical and tragic.… [A] whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit” (A. S. Byatt).
“A few books work their way… onto [bestseller] lists by genuine, lasting excellence—witness Patrick O’Brian’s sea stories.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, noted author
“I love these books.… They will sweep you away and return you delighted, increased and stunned.” —NPR
“[O’Brian’s] Aubrey-Maturin series is a masterpiece. It will outlive most of today’s putative literary gems.” —The New York Times