The Mauritius Command

Can Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew defy the odds, and outmanoeuvre the French, to take two small but vital islands in the Indian Ocean? Life ashore on half pay, despite the joys of family life, is unlikely to satisfy a man of action such as Jack Aubrey. The sea calls to him. And so, when his friend, ships surgeon and secret agent Stephen Maturin, arrives with secret orders, Aubrey soon finds himself in command of a frigate and setting sail for the Cape of Good Hope. But, in Nelsons navy, there are as many enemies within as without. A few books work their way . . . onto [bestseller] lists by genuine, lasting excellence witness The Lord of the Rings, or Patrick OBrians sea stories. URSULA K. LE GUIN I devoured Patrick OBrians twenty-volume masterpiece as if it had been so many tots of Jamaica grog. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS