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A Dangerous Game

Thomas Cochrane's Life on the Edge

By: Peter Moore

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Hardcover | 3 September 2026

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Hardcover

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0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1

Hardcover

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Discover the extraordinary life of Thomas Cochrane, the 18^th century naval hero and political radical, inspiration for the characters of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower, whose sensational exploits at sea and on land shaped the course of history

'Compelling... compulsively readable' THE TIMES
'I wish Patrick O'Brian was alive to read this' NIKOLAI TOLSTOY
'A master historian and storyteller... an extraordinary subject' MATTHEW PARKER

The astonishing true story of Thomas Cochrane - naval hero, political radical and inspiration for Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey - whose audacity at sea, scandals on land and battles across empires make for a tale as thrilling as any novel.

Cochrane's life was even more remarkable than the fiction it inspired. A hero of the Napoleonic Wars, known for destroying the French Atlantic fleet in one explosive attack, he was an equally aggressive force in British politics as the radical MP for Westminster.

Cochrane's fortunes turned in 1814, when he was convicted of a fraud on the Stock Exchange. After escaping from prison, he later reinvented himself as a revolutionary admiral, helping the Chileans, Peruvians, Brazilians and Greeks in their struggles for independence.

In A Dangerous Game, the Sunday Times-bestselling historian Peter Moore draws on newly uncovered materials to bring Cochrane vividly to life. Bold, rebellious and uncompromising, he saw the world as a contest to be won - at sea, in politics, even in scandal - and played it more dangerously than any man of his era.

'Brilliant, pacy and utterly enthralling' ANTONIA SENIOR

'A fitting tribute... unfolds the events of this amazing life with a verve worthy of the man' CAROLINE ALEXANDER, author of The Bounty

'Moore vividly captures the brilliant, brave and brooding naval hero in all his complexity... history and biography at its finest' EDWARD SHAWCROSS, author of The Last Emperor of Mexico

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