Captain Jack Aubrey, RN, arrives in the Dutch East Indies to find himself appointed to the command of the fastest and best armed frigate in the Navy. He and his friend Stephen Maturin take passage for England in a despatch vessel. But the war of 1812 breaks out while they are en route. Bloody actions precipitate them both into new and unexpected scenes where Stephen's past activities as a secret agent return on him with a vengeance.

“No one else writing in the genre today can match his erudition, humour, inventiveness and flair. With his marvellous grasp of contemporary idiom and of the feeling of the period, he brings to the stories a power and authenticity that can never fail to captivate.”
KEVIN MYERS, 'Irish Independent'

“Patrick O’Brian writes as brilliantly as ever. 'The Fortune of War ' is a marvellously full flavoured, engrossing, book , which towers over its current rivals in the genre like a three decker over a ship’s longboat.”
T.J.BINYON,'Times Literary Supplement'

Reviews

“Robert Hardy’s reading gives a real feel of salt spray, not to mention a taste of the lash.”
Times 6/12/97

‘Patrick O’Brian writes as brilliantly as ever. The Fortune of War is a marvellously full-flavoured, engrossing book, which towers over its current rivals in the genre like a three-decker over a ship’s longboat.’
T.J. Binyon, Times Literary Supplement

‘No one else writing in the genre today can match his erudition, humour, inventiveness and flair. With his marvellous grasp of contemporary idiom and of the feeling of the period, he brings to the stories a power and authenticity that can never fail to captivate.’
Kevin Myers, Irish Sunday Independent