In this new work, respected naval historian Lavery explores the historical framework of the O'Brian novels by examining the facts behind the grand narrative and

"In Jack Aubrey Commands, Brian Lavery relates the naval fiction of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester to the real world inhabited by famous Royal Navy heroes s

No fiction writer of the modern period has captured the world of wooden walls, broadsides and the press gang in quite the same way as the late Patrick O'Brian.

Stephen Maturin brings Captain Jack Aubrey secret orders to lead an expedition against the French islands of Mauritius and La Reunion, but the conduct of two of

"Few, very few books have made my heart thud with excitement. H.M.S. Surprise managed it." —Helen Lucy Burke, Irish Press In H.M.S. Surprise, British naval of