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Golden Ocean

Golden Ocean

by PO'Brian (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 1996

    $4.34

  • Used

    Paperback 1998

    $4.09

  • Used

    Hardcover 1996

    $9.38
Synopsis

In the year 1740, Commodore (later Admiral) George Anson embarked on a voyage that would become one of the most famous exploits in British naval history. Sailing through poorly charted waters, Anson and his men encountered disaster, disease, and astonishing success. They circumnavigated the globe and seized a nearly incalcuable sum of Spanish gold and silver, but only one of the five ships survived. This is the background to the first novel Patrick O'Brian ever wrote about the sea, a precursor to the acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series that shares the excitement and rich humor of those books. The protagonist is Peter Palafox, son of a poor Irish parson, who signs on as a midshipman, never before having seen a ship. Together with his lifelong friend Sean, Peter sets out to seek his fortune, embarking upon a journey of danger, disappointment, foreign lands, and excitement. Here is a tale certain to please not only admirers of O'Brian's work but also any reader with an adventurous soul.

$4.34

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 288
 Edition: Reprint
 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
Published: 10 Oct 1996
ISBN 10: 0393315371
ISBN 13: 9780393315370

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
[A] rousing novelistic retelling of a particularly colorful chapter in the history of the imperialist wars of the mid-18th century....Robust and exhilarating....[The] power [of the sea] as a kind of fate is rendered with the Conradian force that shows where O'Brian was headed as a narrative writer. -- Tom Clark - Los Angeles Times
Both aficionados and newcomers will be swept up by the richness of Mr. O'Brian's prodigious imagination. -- Scott Veale - New York Times Book Review
In the present case the names were provided for me, together with the whole sequence of events, just as they were for Homer, Virgil, and many others....I was fortunate enough to have great material, and I wrote the book in about six weeks (or was it less?), laughing most of the time. -- Patrick O'Brian on the writing of The Golden Ocean
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.