Patrick O' Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their beginning with Master & Commander these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback with smart new livery. This is the nineteenth book in the series. Following the extraordinary success of The Yellow Admiral this latest Aubrey-Maturin novel brings alive the sights & sounds of North Africa as well as the great naval battles in the days immediately following Napoleon's escape from Elba. Aubrey & Maturin are in the thick of the plots & counterplots to prevent his regaining power. Coloured by conspiracies in the Adriatic in the Berber & Arab lands of the southern shores of the Mediterranean by night actions fierce pursuits slave-trading & lion hunts The Hundred Days is a masterpiece. 'O' Brian is far & away the best of the Napoleonic storytellers & The Hundred Days is one of the best of the series: a classic naval adventure crammed with incident superbly plotted & utterly gripping... This is O' Brian at his brilliant entertaining best & when he is on this form the rest of us who write of the Napoleonic conflict might as well give up & try a new career. Fans of the series will need no encouragement to buy this book but if you are new to Aubrey & Maturin then this is as splendid an introduction as you could wish for.' Bernard Cornwell