
Patrick O` Brian`s Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Patrick O` Brian is regarded by many as the greatest historical novelist now writing. Post Captain, the second novel in his remarkable Aubrey/ Maturin series, led Mary Renault to write: ` Master & Commander raised dangerously high expectations; Post Captain triumphantly surpasses them.` 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 & his friend Stephen Maturin, surgeon & secret agent, begin to live the lives of country gentlemen, hunting, entertaining & 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 fugitive as Napoleon has ordered the internment of all Englishmen in France. Aubrey`s adventures in escaping from France & the debtors` prison will grip the reader as fast as his unequalled actions at sea.