The Commodore

‘His novels are . . . as delicately perceptive about the human condition as the Jane Austen novels that O’Brian himself so much admired.’
Christina Hardyment Independent

‘One of the most brilliantly sustained pieces of historical fictional writing this century.’
James Teacher Spectator

'... full of the energy that comes from a writer having struck a vein... Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.'
James Hamilton-Paterson

'You are in for the treat of your lives. Thank God for Patrick O'Brian: his genius illuminates the literature of the English language, and lightens the lives of those who read him.'
Kevin Meyers Irish Times

'In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real first-rater.' Mary Renault 'I never enjoyed a novel about the sea more. It is not only that the author describes the handling of a ship of 1800 with an accuracy that is as comprehensible as it is detailed, a remarkable feat in itself. Mr O'Brian's three chief characters are drawn with no less sympathy that the vessels he describes, a rare achievement save in the greatest of writers of this genre. It deserves the widest readership.'
Irish Times