Master and Commander

Resumen del libro

The classic first novel of the epic Aubrey/Maturin series, widely considered the best historical novels ever written (Richard Snow, 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. Meanwhile 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 lovers and enemies 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).

Biografía del autor

Patrick O'Brian, CBE born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and centred on the friendship of the English naval captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish Catalan physician Stephen Maturin. The 20-novel series, the first of which is Master and Commander, is known for its well-researched and highly detailed portrayal of early 19th-century life, as well as its authentic and evocative language. A partially finished 21st novel in the series was published posthumously containing facing pages of handwriting and typescript.<br><br>O'Brian wrote a number of other novels and short stories, most of which were published before he achieved success with the Aubrey Maturin series. He also translated works from French to English, and wrote two biographies.