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Written by Patrick O'Brian - Audio book performed by Tim Pigott-Smith - Abridged Fiction - 3 CASSETTES - 5 hours

Publisher, Random House Audiobooks (October 2001)

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"The best historical novels ever written." --The New York Times

"Although O'Brian is ingenious at devising new adventures, it is the richness of his characters which justifies his readers' continuing enthusiasm." --The New Yorker

"Always gripping. And everything -- skies and seas and ports and creatures -- is vivid and sensuously present." --A.S. Byatt

This splendid installment in Patrick O'Brian's widely acclaimed series of Aubrey / Maturin novels is in equal parts mystery, adventure, and psychological drama. A British whaler has been captured by an ambitious chief in the Friendly Isles (Tonga) at French instigation, and Captain Aubrey, R.N., is dispatched with the Surprise to restore order. But stowed away in the cabletier is an escaped female convict. To the officers, Clarissa Harvill is an object of awkward courtliness and dangerous jealousies. Aubrey himself is won over and indeed strongly attracted to this woman who will not speak of her past. But only Aubrey's friend, Dr. Stephen Maturin, can fathom Clarissa's secrets: her crime, her personality, and a clue identifying a highly placed English spy in the pay of Napoleon's intelligence service.

In a thrilling finale, Patrick O'Brian delivers all the excitement his many readers expect: Aubrey and the crew of the Surprise impose a brutal pax Britannica on the islanders in a pitched battle against a band of headhunting cannibals.

About the Author: Patrick O'Brian's many novels include Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore, in addition to twenty volumes in the highly respected Aubrey / Maturin series. O'Brian wrote acclaimed biographies of Pablo Picasso and Sir Joseph Banks and translated many works from French, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Lacouture's biography of Charles de Gaulle. Mr. O'Brian died in January 2000.