Book summary

MASTER AND COMMANDER is the first volume in the O'Brian's delightful series about the English Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Jack Aubrey (a captain in the Royal Navy) and Stephen Maturin (who will become his ship's surgeon and closest friend) first meet, in April 1800 at a performance of Locatelli's C-major Quartet at a concert in Minorca. This first installment is a beautifully written and observed novel of war, friendship, love, and--not incidentally--natural history, amateur music-making, the British intelligence network, and 18th-century life in general. The book was the basis for the successful and critically acclaimed 2003 movie.

Media reviews

"Patrick O'Brian's sophisticated sea story...re-creates with delightful subtlety, the flavor of life aboard a midget British man-of-war....Even for a reader not especially interested in matters nautical, the author's easy command of the philosophical, political, sensual and social temper of the times flavors a rich entertainment."