We give details of the first two books in the series of books featuring Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin; the series contains twenty books in total, and we list them at the bottom of this page.

Patrick O'Brian was an odd-ball in his private life - a life which he kept very private, and his books, like his life, occasionally smack of too much construction and literary deceit. But he was able to control and pace a great narrative, and had a fine eye and ear for period detail and speech. His plots derive from Captain Marryat and C.S. Forester, in the sense that they contain an abundance of boy's own adventure; but they also contain much more, particularly the characterisation and developing friendship of his two main protagonists.

There are also moments of great drama. In the fifth and finest book of the series, Desolation Island, there is a thrilling chase sequence through an Antarctic storm in which Jack's ship, under-manned and out-gunned, is the quarry not the hunter. The suspense and ultimate resolution are written with the greatest dexterity, and you are swept along in a torrent of literary flight and passion.

Even if you do not think that historical fiction is your normal literary diet, you must give these books a go.

Master and Commander

£7.99

Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O'Brian's now famous Aubrey/Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship's surgeon and, we slowly discover, an intelligence agent. It contains all the action and excitement which could possibly be hoped for in an historical novel, but it also displays the qualities which have put O'Brian far ahead of his competitors: his depiction of the detail of life aboard a Nelsonic man-of-war, of weapons, food, conversation and ambience, of the landscape and of the sea. O'Brian's portrayal of each of these is faultless and the sense of period throughout is acute. His power of characterisation above all is masterly.

Post Captain

£7.99

This is the second of the Aubrey/Maturin series of novels.

This tale begins with Jack Aubrey arriving home from his exploits in the Mediterranean to find England at peace following the Treaty of Amiens. He and his friend Stephen Maturin, surgeon and secret agent, begin to live the lives of country gentlemen, hunting, entertaining and enjoying more amorous adventures. Their comfortable existence, however, is cut short when Jack is overnight reduced to a pauper with enough debts to keep him in prison for life. He flees to the continent to seek refuge; instead he finds himself a hunted figitive as Napoleon has ordered the internment of all Englishmen in France. Aubrey's adventures in escaping from both France and the debtor's prison will grip the reader as fast as his unequalled actions at sea.

There are twenty books in the series. The last was published in 1999, not long before Patrick O'Brian's death. The sequence of books is comprised of:

As the series developed, the books became shorter and the invention not so great. But by the time this happens, which is over half way through the series, you have become a junkie, and just to read of Aubrey and Maturin rising in the morning, swilling coffee and bacon on the poop deck, and playing music together before they retire to bed, is enough: no plot is actually needed for you to get a 'fix'.