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eBook The Letter of Marque ePub

by Robert Hardy,Patrick O'Brian

Robert Hardy Patrick O'Brian Genre Fiction English

Author: Robert Hardy,Patrick O'Brian
Language: English
ISBN: 000105547X
ISBN13: 978-0001055476
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio; Abridged edition (March 15, 1999)
Category: Genre Fiction
Subcategory: Literature
Rating: 4.6
Votes: 325
Formats: docx doc lrf lrf
ePub file: 1819 kb
Fb2 file: 1601 kb

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Robert Hardy (Narrator), Patrick O'Brian (Author), HarperCollins Publishers Limited . All of the O'Brien books are excellent. This is one of my especial favourites.

Robert Hardy (Narrator), Patrick O'Brian (Author), HarperCollins Publishers Limited (Publisher). 9/month after 30 days. The letter of Marque is a poignant story of deep loyalty, deep friendship and some tremendous cliffhangers. Don't miss it. It's great, as are all of O'Brian's books in this series. One person found this helpful.

The hands are most uncommon pleased about Lord Nelson's letter, sir,' said Bonden, after they had discussed the breeze and the possibility of taking codlings with hook and line. They look upon it as what you might call a sign. At this point the bosun's pipe called Bonden and all hands to get the blue cutter over the side and Jack walked aft.

When The Letter of Marque opens he has been struck off the Navy List for a crime he has not committed. With Aubrey is his friend and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also an unofficial British intelligence agent. Around these simple, ostensibly familar elements Patrick O’Brian has written a novel of great narrative power, exploring his extraordinary world once more, in a tale full of human feeling and rarely matched in its drama. Nelson Robert Hardy navy audio atlantic Napoleon adventure Aubrey Maturin intelligence The Letter of Marque Patrick O'Brian Books fiction Harper Collins Harper Audio voyage history historical fiction ships.

The Letter of Marque. Written by Patrick O’Brian. Narrated by Robert Hardy. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely hailed as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Struck off the Navy List for a crime he did not commit, Jack Aubrey takes command of a privateer and begins a voyage which may, just may, restore him to the rank. Jack Aubrey is a naval officer, a post-captain of experience and capacity. When The Letter of Marque opens he has been struck off the Navy List for a crime he has not committed.

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I wrote to him twice, but destroyed both the letters, fearing to intrude and hurt with untimely sympathy. It was a very gross miscarriage of justice

I wrote to him twice, but destroyed both the letters, fearing to intrude and hurt with untimely sympathy. It was a very gross miscarriage of justice. Mr Aubrey could no more have conceived a fraud on the Stock Exchange than I: rather less so, indeed, he having so very little knowledge of the world of commerce, let alone finance. In the nineties there was a Frenchman of fifty guns, that wrought terrible havoc on the eastern trade; and you can scarcely have forgotten the prodigious fast-sailing ship that we chased day after day and so very nearly caught when we were coming back from Barbados-she carried thirty-two guns. Of course, of course: the Spartan. The thirteen-gun salute. The nutmeg of consolation. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

He led him upstairs to the library, the pleasantest room in the house, lined with books and slim-drawered insect-cabinets, and placed him an easy chair on one side of the fire while he sat on the other, gazing at him with renewed pleasure until Stephen's first question 'What news of Wray and Ledward?' wiped the expression off his face. Oh, it was the cruel time, though we had a fair wind most of it; we never drew an easy breath till we crossed Shelmerston bar, when we threw off the tow, fired all the great guns, and sent on shore for a feast.

Written by Patrick O'Brian, narrated by Robert Hardy. Delicacy and generosity of feeling are constant themes in O'Brian's novels. The Letter of Marque is both serious and light-hearted, true and sentimental, as comic opera can b.

The Letter of Marque book. The Letter of Marque. Aubrey & Maturin.

Struck off the Navy List for a crime he did not commit, Jack Aubrey takes command of a privateer and begins a voyage which may, just may, restore him to the rank. Jack Aubrey is a naval officer, a post-captain of experience and capacity. When The Letter of Marque opens he has been struck off the Navy List for a crime he has not committed. With Aubrey is his friend and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also an unofficial British intelligence agent. Maturin has bought for Aubrey his old ship the Surprise, so that the misery of ejection from the service can be palliated by the command of what Aubrey calls a 'private man-of-war' -- a letter of marque, a privateer. Together they sail on a voyage which, if successful, might restore Aubrey to the rank, and the raison d'etre, whose loss he so much regrets. Around these simple, ostensibly familar elements Patrick O'Brian has written a novel of great narrative power, exploring his extraordinary world once more, in a tale full of human feeling and rarely matched in its drama.

Haracetys

What a great account of friendship at it's best. I really love it when O'Brian details the strong bonds between the friends in these books. Forced to account for the true theme of this book, I would say friendship, love of friends. There is a lot going on in the book and things are looking up for Aubrey and it is all possible because of his relationships with those around him. O'Brian has made Aubrey a sucker for every scheme ever developed on land and, although he is a slow learner in this environment, he does learn and grow. He is lucky to have the friends he does because they create the opportunities for Aubrey to change his fortunes. His fortunes change in interesting ways that are worth reading about so for the small expense of the book you can expect really good entertainment that sets up the great opportunities in the future for Aubrey. Even Maturin's fortunes are looking up in every respect. I highly recommend the book.

Flocton

Picking up exactly where The Reverse of the Medal (Vol. Book 11) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) left off - Jack Aubrey drummed out of the service, the Surpise decommissioned, _The Letter of Marque_ serves as the second half of the tale in a much more direct way than the previous books in the series. As such, many lose ends are tied up and O'Brian will (I assume) take readers in another direction with the following book.

Keeping a reader's interest twelve books into a series is no easy feat, but O'Brian makes it look easy. Readers already know both Aubrey and Maturin quite well (having served and sailed with them literally around the world and in dozens of engagements), yet the characters remain fresh as they evolve and grow. Aubrey of course is terribly distraught and troubled after his humilating discharge from the service; even when an opening is made for him to reenter if he only were to ask for a pardon, he adamantly refuses such is the strength of his conviction. To ask for a pardon would be to admit he had done something wrong in the first place. Such characterization is one reason of several why the books are so popular. Another is the exquisite detail of O'Brian's descriptions of naval warfare - in _The Letter of Marque_, Aubrey's luck holds again in an absolutely riveting (and bold) engagement. I hesitate to say more, lest I spoil elements of the plot.

The real heart of the story isn't the battle or the challenges and problems Aubrey faces - it is the closeness between Maturin and Aubrey and the gradual depth of those characters close them: Sophie, Diana Villiers, and Aubrey's children. (The very thought of precious 8-year old twins running around and yelling at one another "you swab!" and "avast, you whoreson!" still puts me in stitches.) These characters and the men with whom Aubrey and Maturin have served with, are becoming more and more real with each successive installment of the series. Highly recommended reading.

Arashilkis

In the last few months I have taken to listening to O'Brian rather than reading him. And, I hasten to add, I have read through the canon twice! Listening to O'Brian's words rather than reading them, has taken me to a completely new level of appreciation. Tull is superb.

I listen to the novels in whatever order I can find the audiobooks available from my public library. I did begin with "Master and Commander" via a purchase of same (and with John Lee), but I cannot afford now to buy my own tapes of every novel so have taken to borrowing same from my library. I listen to the audiobooks on tape cassettes, and do so either while in the yard gardening (a sometimes rather boring job) or whilst driving about town (an always tedious and boring occupation!). Whilst doing the latter I am surely depriving my classical music station of one of its staunchest listeners!

Because I listen to whatever novel I can find at the time, I have been listening in no particular order. One time I may be listening to "Desolation Island" and another time, as of late, it may be "Letter of Marque". And I have by no means listened to more than 4 or 5 books yet. But this presents no real problems as far as comprehension is concerned because I have read the canon twice over. Athough I do have to stop sometimes and figure out just what has happened already and what has yet to happen.

In any event, I am listening to rather than reading O'Brian. And, the professional narrator, as I have already mentioned, must be able to dramatize the books, with different accents, with a range of emotional tones, with dramatic pauses, and so forth. These were not things that I did when I was reading the books silently to myself. As a result, I am more and more taken with O'Brian's mastery. And I often find myself chuckling over some droll bit which did not elicit the same while only reading it. I also often find myself marveling yet again over O'Brian's complete mastery as a writer, as an unabashed story-teller.

The way that he was able to weave all of those 20 books together is simply astounding. It is as remarkable as what we are told of Mozart's scores, namely that they are all of one piece, having seemed to be simply taken down as dictation from on high. (I do know from seeing "21" that Patrick did in fact cross things out, etc.). He cannot have had the whole canon figured out in his mind in advance, and yet it seems that way.

How he is able to bring in and out of the tales various characters, but in ways that are never contrived. His ability to write of naval technical terms so off-handedly and casually, as if it is as second nature to him as they would have been to Jack. And, apparently able to do so without ever having had much personal experience with sailing vessels himself. It often makes me wonder if O'Brian wasn't a 'square-rigged sailor' in some previous incarnation, and now he has somehow tied his conscious mind back into that former life. And, at other times, his writing is pure literary lyricism, such as, in LOM, when he tells us about Steven's state of mind during the days he was semi-unconscious after his fall from the tower. That bit of writing is the best of the best!

So, as it was often put, in the novels, O'Brian's writing "was the completest thing".

UPDATE: I have now spent the last year since this review in buying each set of tapes in their turn and have now listened to the whole 20 novels canon - and all by my very favorite narrator Patrick Tull (excepting Master and Commander).