"A great novel. In relentlessly beautiful prose it creates, or recreates, a world of
people about whom we care intensely and who come alive all over the globe, on seven seas
and seven continents."Chicago Sun Times

"A mirror to Nelson's navy-compulsively readable."Hammond Innes

In the early 1800s, the British Navy stands as the only bulwark against the militant fanaticism
of Napoleonic France.

Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N., ashore after a successful tour of duty, is persuaded by a casual acquaintance
to make certain investments in the city. This innocent decision ensnares him in the London criminal
underground and in government espionage, the province of his friend Stephen Maturin. Is Aubrey's humiliation
and the threatened ruin of his career a deliberate plot? This dark tale is a fitting backdrop to the brilliant
characterization, sparkling dialogue, and meticulous detail which O'Brian's readers have come to expect.


Earphones Awards recipient Simon Vance was born in England and worked for the BBC for ten years as a radio news announcer, and also as a narrator for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London. Besides narrating audiobooks, he is involved in numerous stage-acting projects in the United States and Europe.