Patrick O'Brian

In The Nutmeg of Consolation Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin start out stranded on an uninhabited island in the Dutch East Indies, attacked by ferocious Malay pirates. They contrive their escape, but are soon caught up in a night chase in angry waters.

Aubrey and Maturin are ordered home by despatch vessel to bring news of the victory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man due to the havoc he has caused the French intelligence in the New World and a menacing chase ensues.

When financial difficulties force him to flee England, Jack Aubrey seeks refuge in Napoleonic France. Instead he finds himself hunted like a fugitive, and, with the help of old friend Stephen Maturin, must find a way to escape and clear his debts.

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are in pursuit of a privateer sailing under American colours through the Great South Sea. Stephen's objective is to light the revolutionary tinder of South America to relieve the pressure on the British government.

Jack Aubrey's long service is at last rewarded, as he is promoted to the rank of Commodore and given a squadron of ships to command. His mission is twofold - to make a large dent in the African slave trade, and to intercept a French fleet.

On the indigo waters of the South Sea, the crew of a schooner are attacked by a man-eating tiger-shark. In the humid depths of the African jungle, a 30-foot python plots to rid himself of his rival, a wily old crocodile. And, amid the heat and dust of the Punjab, the snake-charmer Hussein escapes into the forest on the elephant that he trained when a mahout in his youth. Told with the dry wit and unsentimental precision Patrick O'Brian came to be...

Jack Aubrey returns from his duties protecting whalers of South America and is persuaded to make investments in the City. From there he is led into the halfworlds of the London criminal underground and of government espionage.

Captain Jack Aubrey's friend Stephen arrives with secret orders to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope, under a Commodore's pennant. But he finds difficulty in carrying out his orders because of Lord Clonfert and Captain Corbett, his own Captains.

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 ninth book in the series.