355 pages
English language
Published Aug. 18, 1991 by W. W. Norton & Company.
In a long series, this is one of the better books. I thought the love between Maturin and Diane was over, but here we go again as Aubrey / Maturin live through wild times, having no obstacles in their way until fire breaks out, they travel with the cutter, get picked up, get into a battle in US-british war of 1812, become prisoners in Boston and so on.
Here the story continues in an arc of misfortune for our heroes and this volume has everything: spy plots, at sea action, Americans, everything. And all the while O'Brian sets his epic story apart from other genre works with incredibly well crafted prose, and vulnerable characters the reader has gotten to know well from the start of the series.
