PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Patrick O'Brian, until his death in 2000, was one of our greatest contemporary novelists. He is the author of the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He is the author of many other books including Testimonies, and his Collected Short Stories. In 1995 he was the first recipient of the Heywood Hill Prize for a lifetime's contribution to literature. In the same year he was awarded the CBE. In 1997 he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Trinity College, Dublin. He lived for many years in South West France and he died in Dublin in January 2000.
`Both books are full of the fantasy that has made O'Brian's seafaring yarns such a success. Like them, they are full of engaging adventures, curious lore, fond descriptions of food and scenes of battle... Caesar makes delightful, often hilarious reading... Hussein is more sophisticated. Here fully thirty years before Master and Commander was published is the unmistakable texture of O'Brian's historical fiction. Hussein has it all: the immersion in another world, full of local colour, the delight in a specialised vocabulary, the relish of male camaraderie, travel, treasure and fighting.' David Sexton, Evening Standard `We can see here a true storyteller in the making.' Juliet Townsend, Literary Review `Sustained and well-written ... highlights the foundations of O'Brian's mastery of writing, his value far beyond that of a historical novelist.' Martin Booth, Daily Telegraph `O'Brian admirers can now appreciate another dimension to his writing' Alex O'Connell, The Times `A gorgeous entertainment.' The New York Times `Nothing will bring the creatures and myths of childhood back faster than an imaginary journey with O'Brian as guide.' Los Angeles Times Book Review
