{"product_id":"the-commodore-9781324021551","title":"The Commodore","description":"Having survived a long and desperate adventure in the Great South Sea, Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin return to England to very different circumstances. For Jack it is a happy homecoming, at least initially, but for Stephen it is disastrous: his little daughter appears to be autistic, incapable of speech or contact, while his wife, Diana, unable to bear this situation, has disappeared, her house being looked after by the widowed Clarissa Oakes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Much of \u003cem\u003eThe Commodore\u003c\/em\u003e takes place on land, in sitting rooms and in drafty castles, but the roar of the great guns is never far from our hearing. Aubrey and Maturin are sent on a bizarre decoy mission to the fever-ridden lagoons of the Gulf of Guinea to suppress the slave trade. But their ultimate destination is Ireland, where the French are mounting an invasion that will test Aubrey's seamanship and Maturin's resourcefulness as a secret intelligence agent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The subtle interweaving of these disparate themes is an achievement of pure storytelling by one of our greatest living novelists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eO'Brian, Patrick:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - One of our greatest contemporary novelists, \u003cstrong\u003ePatrick O'Brian\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of the twenty volumes of the best-selling Aubrey\/Maturin series, as well as many other books, including \u003cem\u003eTestimonies\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Golden Ocean\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Unknown Shore\u003c\/em\u003e, and biographies of Joseph Banks and Picasso.","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50650461110546,"sku":"9781324021551","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_81fe6eec-1e8a-4424-99b0-9485c3ed6281.jpg?v=1733289699","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-commodore-9781324021551","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}