Desolation Island

Name: Desolation Island
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Patrick O'Brian
ISBN: 9780375417030

Author: Patrick O'Brian

Narrator: Tim Pigott-Smith

Abridged: 5 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Random House Audio

Published: 07/05/2000

Categories: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Sent to rescue Governor Bligh, former captain of HMS Bounty, Jack Aubrey sets off for Australia in the Leopold with his friend Stephen Maturin and a hold full of convicts in this fifth of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

A beautiful and dangerous spy lurks among these prisoners, as does an even more lethal traveling companion, gaol fever, a treacherous disease that decimates the crew. With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the under-manned, outgunned Leopold sails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic. There in mountainous seas, the Dutchman closes.

"Good history, espionage, romance and an action at sea that for sheer descriptive power can match anything in fiction." (The Guardian)

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 the 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Terry on July 04, 2023

June 2023 re-read thoughts: Are these the perfect books? Common sense tells me there is likely no such thing strictly speaking, but I have to say that for me they seem to come pretty close. The compulsive readability of the Aubrey-Maturin series, coupled with the excellent characterizations and shee......more

Goodreads review by Joshua on June 04, 2022

This is one of my favorites from the series. It contains what I believe to be arguably the most riveting sea chase in any novel. Captain Aubrey is to take the Leopard, a two deck ship of fifty guns to Botany Bay to come to the aid of William Bligh (yes that William Bligh of the Bounty) who is now Go......more

Goodreads review by Brad on March 05, 2015

For me, Desolation Island is where Aubrey/Maturin settle into a comfortable familiarity with their readers, and the rhythm of these books, their own fine and sonorous strings, takes their ultimate shape. There is confidence in Patrick O'Brian's writing at this point, and one no longer has any sense t......more

Goodreads review by Clemens on December 17, 2021

Read this book in 2008, and its the 5th amazing volume of the wonderful "Aubrey/Maturin" series. In this story, commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of "Bounty"fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend Surgeon/Spy, Stephen Maturin, are setting sail on a ship called the "Leopard" towards Australia wit......more