Thirteen-Gun Salute (Aubrey Maturin Series)

Thirteen-Gun Salute (Aubrey Maturin Series)

by PatrickO'Brian (Author)

Synopsis

Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy (a false accusation), he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer, brilliantly chronicled in The Letter of Marque. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin-his friend, ship's surgeon, and sometimes intelligence agent-on a diplomatic mission to prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes which would put English merchant shipping at risk.

The journey of the Diane encompasses a great and satisfying diversity of adventures. Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and in the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well entrenched in the Sultan's good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 368
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 17 Sep 1992

ISBN 10: 039330907X
ISBN 13: 9780393309072

Media Reviews
I haven't read novels [in the past ten years] except for all of the Patrick O'Brian series. It was, unfortunately, like tripping on heroin. I started on those books and couldn't stop. -- E. O. Wilson - Boston Globe
The best historical novels ever written... On every page Mr. O'Brian reminds us with subtle artistry of the most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don't, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our own lives. -- Richard Snow - New York Times Book Review
It has been something of a shock to find myself-an inveterate reader of girl books-obsessed with Patrick O'Brian's Napoleonic-era historical novels... What keeps me hooked are the evolving relationships between Jack and Stephen and the women they love. -- Tamar Lewin - New York Times
I devoured Patrick O'Brian's 20-volume masterpiece as if it had been so many tots of Jamaica grog. -- Christopher Hitchens - Slate
I fell in love with his writing straightaway, at first with Master and Commander. It wasn't primarily the Nelson and Napoleonic period, more the human relationships. ...And of course having characters isolated in the middle of the goddamn sea gives more scope. ...It's about friendship, camaraderie. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin always remind me a bit of Mick and me. -- Keith Richards
[O'Brian's] Aubrey-Maturin series, 20 novels of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars, is a masterpiece. It will outlive most of today's putative literary gems as Sherlock Holmes has outlived Bulwer-Lytton, as Mark Twain has outlived Charles Reade. -- David Mamet - New York Times
The Aubrey-Maturin series... far beyond any episodic chronicle, ebbs and flows with the timeless tide of character and the human heart. -- Ken Ringle - Washington Post
O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin volumes actually constitute a single 6,443-page novel, one that should have been on those lists of the greatest novels of the 20th century. -- George Will
Gripping and vivid... a whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit. -- A. S. Byatt
There is not a writer alive whose work I value over his. -- Stephen Becker - Chicago Sun-Times
Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars. -- James Hamilton-Paterson - New Republic
Author Bio
Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series of historical novels has been described as a masterpiece (David Mamet, New York Times), addictively readable (Patrick T. Reardon, Chicago Tribune), and the best historical novels ever written (Richard Snow, New York Times Book Review), which should have been on those lists of the greatest novels of the 20th century (George Will).Set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian's twenty-volume series centers on the enduring friendship between naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician (and spy) Stephen Maturin. The Far Side of the World, the tenth book in the series, was adapted into a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. The film was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture. The books are now available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book format.In addition to the Aubrey/Maturin novels, Patrick O'Brian wrote several books including the novels Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore, as well as biographies of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He translated many works from French into English, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir, the first volume of Jean Lacouture's biography of Charles de Gaulle, and famed fugitive Henri Cherriere's memoir Papillon. O'Brian died in January 2000.