Napoleon has escaped from Elba – the Hundred Days have begun.Napoleon has escaped from Elba – the Hundred Days have begun.The war is over, the armies dispersed, and the former Emperor of the French has been consigned to a Mediterranean island, yet now he is marching again on Paris with an ever-growing army. Commodore Jack Aubrey and his convoy are tasked with destroying enemy shipyards along the Adriatic coast and cutting off the financial support from that quarter, in a fast and furious race to stop the Corsican from regaining all he’s lost.All is to play for and everything is at stake.‘Patrick O’Brian is far and away the best of the Napoleonic story tellers, and The Hundred Days is one of the best in the series; a classic naval adventure, crammed with incident, superbly plotted and utterly gripping.’BERNARD CORNWELL‘Patrick O’Brian is a joy to read.’Irish Independent‘If O’Brian’s novels have become a cult, this is because they are truly addictive. . . They are, quite magnificently, adventure yarns whose superb authenticity never distracts from the sheer thrill of the action.’Caroline Moore, Sunday Telegraph‘The Aubrey–Maturin novels, by Patrick O’Brian, are so addictive that after I finish one I have to hide the next from myself for a little while in order to do anything else but read.’Louise Erdrich‘In Aubrey and Maturin, Patrick O’Brian has created two of the most enjoyable characters in twentieth-century fiction. Their relationship sustains an absorbing and thrilling sequence of naval stories, unrivalled in their complexity, full of impeccable detail and psychological insight. O’Brian switches from the intimate to the epic with equal assurance. One of the greatest authors to sail with.’Michael Palin‘My hero is Patrick O’Brian. It’s basically impossible to write that well.’David Mamet‘One of the most compelling and brilliant novelists of his time . . . Beyond his superbly elegant writing, wit and originality, Patrick O’Brian showed an understanding of the nature of a floating world at the mercy of the wind and the sea which has never been surpassed.’Max Hastings, Evening Standard‘I devoured Patrick O’Brian’s twenty-volume masterpiece as if it had been so many tots of Jamaica grog.’Christopher Hitchens‘Written with most engaging enthusiasm that can’t fail to give pleasure to anybody who enjoys historical adventure flavoured with more than a dash of realism.’The Sunday Times‘One of the most brilliantly sustained pieces of historical fictional writing this century.’James Teacher, Spectator‘Patrick O’Brian brings depth to his sea-stories with outstanding dialogue, characterisation, humour and a golden thread of romance. You don’t have to love books about naval battles to become entranced.’Katie FfordeThe brand new Aubrey-Martin novel. Publication ties with the HarperCollins hardback.THE HUNDRED DAYSWith the Napoleonic wars looking all but over, Jack Aubrey was already on his way across the Atlantic to try his fortunes under the flag of the young Chilean republic when Napoleon escaped from Elaba. Hurriedly appointed to command a squadron flying the broad pennant of a Commodore, Jack was made flag officer in all but name, to operate within and without the Mediterranean on a number of difficult and dangerous missions in an atmosphere of confused political allegiances and with whatever ships could be scraped together at a moment's notice.Conspiracy in the Adriatic, in the Berber and Arab lands of the southern shore of the Mediterranean, night actions, fierce pursuits and the natural wonders of a still uncolonised North Africa all exert their pull on Jack, now ageing – wheezing indeed as he hauls himself aloft – and his old friend the intelligence agent Stephen Maturin in this the nineteenth novel in a series that has, like the service it depicts, carried all before it.Patrick O’Brian was born in 1914 and published his first book, Caesar, when he was only fifteen. In the 1960s he began work on the idea that, over the next four decades, evolved into the twenty-novel long Aubrey–Maturin series (with an extra unfinished volume published posthumously). In 1995 he was awarded the CBE, and in 1997 he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Trinity College, Dublin. He died in January 2000 at the age of 85.Requires internet connection for purchase, plus iPod or other Audible-compatible player or iTunes software on Mac OS X or Windows• Available for the first time as a downloadable audio file.• Massive press and consumer interest – O’Brian has been hailed as the greatest historical novelist writing today, as ‘Jane Austen, sur mer’.• A new movie with $150 million budget, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Peter Weir is based on these adventures.• Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series has sold millions of copies. He is one of our greatest novelists ever.Competition: clarissa oakes;post captain;treason’s harbour;desolation island;sharpe’s assassin;war lord;the last kingdom. by;bernard cornwell;julian stockwin;david gilman;alexander kent;allan mallinson;dean king;c. s. forester;dewey lambdin;jay worrall;diana gabaldon
Pubblicato da: HarperCollins Publishers