Patrick O'Brian

Jack Aubrey, a former sea-officer in the British Navy and still bitter about his court-martial, agrees to take command of his old ship, the Surprise, which was sold to Dr. Stephen Maturin, who obtained a letter of marque to the use the ship as a privateer

The Letter of Marque (Vol. Book 12) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)

Gavin

“more tears were shed over prayers that were granted than ever were shed over prayers that were refused”

“Killick, who as captain’s steward was naturally in charge of these things, took him by the arm and called out slowly into his perhaps uncomprehending ear, ‘You Free Man Now. Huzzay,’ making the gesture of one released from his manacles, and thus signifying that the moment the black set foot on a British ship he was no longer a slave. ‘You’ – touching his breast – ‘Free Man.’
‘Parm me, sir,’ said the black, ‘my name is Smith.’ But he spoke so gently for fear of giving offence, that, in the midst of the cheerful hullaballoo, his words had no influence whatsoever upon public opinion.”.

“Stephen and Davidge spoke of the difficulties of remaining alive as an undergraduate at Trinity College in Dublin: Davidge had a cousin there who had been pierced three times, twice by a sword, once by a pistol-bullet.
‘I am not a quarrelsome man nor inclined to take offence,’ said Stephen, ‘yet I must have been out a score of times in my first year. It is better now, I believe, but it was a desperate place in those days.”

“Could you not spend an afternoon at Milport, to meet the electors? There are not many of them, and those few are all my tenants, so it is no more than a formality; but there is a certain decency to be kept up. The writ will be issued very soon.’ Then, seeing Jack’s look of astonishment, he went on, ‘I mean to offer you the seat.’
‘Do you, by God?’ cried Jack; and realizing the extent, the importance, the consequence of what his cousin had just said he went on, ‘I think that amazingly handsome in you, sir; I take it more kindly than I can say.’ He shook Mr Norton’s thin old hand and sat staring for a while: possibilities that he hardly dared name flashed and glowed in his mind like a fleet in action.
Cousin Edward said ‘I thought it might strengthen your hand in any dealings with government. There is not much merit in being a member of parliament, unless perhaps you represent your county; but at least a member with merit of his own is in a position to have it recognized”.

Takes Stephen 40 pages and like a week to inform his wife he’s not unfaithful. Christ almighty.

Maurice FitzGerald

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 and Commander, these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback with smart new livery. This is the twelfth book in the series. Jack Aubrey is a naval officer, a post-captain of experience and capacity. When The Letter of Marque opens he has been struck off the Navy List for a crime he has not committed. With Aubrey is his friend and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also an unofficial British intelligence agent. Maturin has bought for Aubrey his old ship the Surprise, so that the misery of ejection from the service can be palliated by the command of what Aubrey calls a 'private man-of-war' -- a letter of marque, a privateer. Together they sail on a voyage which, if successful, might restore Aubrey to the rank, and the raison d'etre, whose loss he so much regrets. Around these simple, ostensibly familar elements Patrick O'Brian has written a novel of great narrative power, exploring his extraordinary world once more, in a tale full of human feeling and rarely matched in its drama.

The Letter of Marque (Vol. Book 12) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)

Reviews