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Golden Ocean
In the year 1740, Commodore (later Admiral) Anson embarked on a voyage that would become one of the most famous exploits in British naval history. Sailing through poorly charted waters, Anson and his men encountered disaster, disease, and astonishing success. They circumnavigated the globe and seized a nearly incalculable sum of Spanish gold and silver, but only one of the five ships survived the voyage. This is the background to the first novel Patrick O'Brian ever wrote about the sea, a precursor to the critically acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series. The Golden Ocean shares the excitement and the rich humor of those books, invoking the eloquent style and attention to historical detail that O'Brian fans know so well. The protagonist of this story is Peter Palafox, son of a poor Irish parson, who signs on as a mid-shipman, never before having seen a ship. He is a fellow who would have delighted the young Stephen Maturin or Jack Aubrey . . . and quarreled violently with them as well. Together with his life-long friend Sean, Peter sets out to seek his fortune, embarking upon a journey of danger, disappointment, foreign lands, and excitement. Here is a tale certain to please not only admirers of O'Brian's work, but any reader with an adventurous soul.
Book Details
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
- Publish Date: Oct 1st, 1996
- Pages: 288
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.52in - 5.11in - 0.72in - 0.50lb
- EAN: 9780393315370
- Categories: • Historical - General• Sea Stories
About the Author
O'Brian, Patrick: - One of our greatest contemporary novelists, Patrick O'Brian is the author of the twenty volumes of the best-selling Aubrey/Maturin series, as well as many other books, including Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, The Unknown Shore, and biographies of Joseph Banks and Picasso.
Praise for this book
In the present case the names were provided for me, together with the whole sequence of events, just as they were for Homer, Virgil, and many others....I was fortunate enough to have great material, and I wrote the book in about six weeks (or was it less?), laughing most of the time.--Patrick O'Brian on the writing of The Golden Ocean
I haven't read novels [in the past ten years] except for all of the Patrick O'Brian series. It was, unfortunately, like tripping on heroin. I started on those books and couldn't stop.--E. O. Wilson "Boston Globe"
[A] rousing novelistic retelling of a particularly colorful chapter in the history of the imperialist wars of the mid-18th century....Robust and exhilarating....[The] power [of the sea] as a kind of fate is rendered with the Conradian force that shows where O'Brian was headed as a narrative writer.--Tom Clark "Los Angeles Times"
Both aficionados and newcomers will be swept up by the richness of Mr. O'Brian's prodigious imagination.--Scott Veale "New York Times Book Review"