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 fourth book in the series. Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half-pay without a command
- until his friend & occasional intelligence agent Stephen Maturin arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a Commodore's pennant. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains
- Lord Clonfert a pleasure-seeking dilettante & Captain Corbett whose severity can push his crews to the verge of mutiny. Based on the actual campaign of 1810 in the Indian Ocean O' Brian's attention to detail of eighteenth-century life ashore & at sea is meticulous. This tale is as beautifully written & as gripping as any in the series; it also stands on its own as a superlative work of fiction.