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    Treason's Harbour
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    Treason's Harbour
    Unavailable
    Treason's Harbour
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Treason's Harbour

    Written by Patrick O'Brian

    Narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The 9th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin series

    All of Patrick O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage; for the dockyards and saloons of Malta are alive with Napoleon's agents, and the admiralty's intelligence network is compromised. Maturin's cunning is the sole bulwark against sabotage of Aubrey's daring mission.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 10, 2000
    ISBN9780375417559
    Unavailable
    Treason's Harbour
    Author

    Patrick O'Brian

    Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist, biographer and translator from French. His translations include Henri Charrière’s Papillon, Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle and many of Simone de Beauvoir’s later works, including Les Belles Images, All Said and Done and A Very Easy Death.

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    Reviews for Treason's Harbour

    4/5

    431 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Treason’s Harbour, Patrick O’Brian’s ninth book in his Aubrey-Maturin series, sees picks up shortly after the events of The Ionian Mission, with Captain Jack Aubrey refitting the HMS Surprise at Malta and Dr. Stephen Maturin working to maintain his cover as an intelligence agent amid a shake-up in the Mediterranean command and a Malta teeming with French spies. Aubrey undertakes three missions throughout the region, each time finding his missions foiled by the French intelligence networks’ advance knowledge of his missions from Malta. Stephen, meanwhile, tests out his diving bell, based on Edmond Halley’s design, and works to surreptitiously hamper the French spy networks’ efforts without further jeopardizing himself. The Surprise, nearly a recurring character in her own right prior to this, takes on a special significance when Admiral Ives informs Aubrey that she is to return to England to be sold out of the service, leading Aubrey to carefully contemplate the ship and her crew on their various missions. In a series of flashbacks, O’Brian explores Captain Aubrey’s examination to become a lieutenant.Like his previous novels, O’Brian perfectly recreates the world of the Napoleonic War in 1812, using Aubrey’s nostalgia at the coming retirement of the Surprise to view the life aboard ship, particularly aboard this idealized ship, through rose-colored glasses and with a sentimentality that will delight his readers. This Folio Society edition reprints the original text with insets containing historical portraits and sketches to illustrate some of the scenes. A great contribution to the Aubrey-Maturin series and the third of twelve to focus on what O’Brian described as an extended 1812, with these dozen books taking place between the beginning of June 1813 and November 1813.
    • 3/5
      It was slower than most. boring plot not enough sea action.
    • 4/5
      Emily Dickinson said there is no frigate like a book. In the Aubrey-Maturin series this is especially true. O'Brian's stories of these two characters give the reader a trip through the era of sailing warships during the conflict with Napoleonic France. This story takes place in Malta and the eastern Mediterranean and also in the sweltering Red Sea, all vividly told.
    • 4/5
      In which Aubrey is back in Malta awaiting a promised command, the port teeming with French agents and rife with British corruption. Maturin plays a game of double-cross with Lesueuer (and unknowingly: with Wray), pretending to be seduced by Laura Fielding yet upholding his honour, and hers. Word arrives that a similar game may be played in London with Diana and Jagiello. The intrigue shifts from Malta to the Red Sea aboard Niobe, after transport on Dromedary and then a desert crossing by camel train, and dear Surprise is charged with convoy duty to Ithaca, perhaps its last mission before being sold out of the service.//Theme of cuckoldry continues, now targeting Charles Fielding given his wife's willingness to be used by French intelligence. O'Brian inserts a wry aside about a cuckold's neck, a nautical term.Jack's chelengk, and his rescue of Ponto from a well, and subsequent raised eyebrows about town.Stephen's diving bell, and French gold; Wray's gambling habit, and in lieu of payment: a new command for Jack? Attending to a bear, recently injured by crewmember Awkward Davis.The memorable action aboard Surprise with French man-of-war Mars and its attendant freighters, in tight quarters, Jack's seamanship delivering a satisfactory conclusion if no prize.O'Brian names the Captains Ball & Hamner; and glassmerchant Maimonides Moses.
    • 4/5
      The continuing adventures of Dr.Maturin and his bff, Captain Aubrey of the Royal Navy. This is a particularly endearing look at them, because both are in fine form. Aubrey is able to showcase his incredible seamanship, strategy, and leadership, while Maturin's naturalist excusions are a humorous counterpoint to his intelligent manipulations. The humor of their strange shipmates and odd customs of the Navy, the obvious intimacy with Maturin's foibles, the affection shown by all of them toward each other--I really loved it.

      Three things spoiled my enjoyment: Patrick Tull is generally a good narrator, but his voice for the Italian Mrs.Fielding is atrocious, so bad and artificial that it sounds like a parody. Being party to the French Intelligence officers' meetings is fun for the reader, but made me impatient when Maturin didn't figure out the various French plots. Particularly annoying was his continued trust in Ray, because there were numerous clues that Ray was involved with the French, and Maturin had absolutely no reason to trust Ray. And thirdly, the book ends right in the middle of a spy plot and right before more ship battles! I could hardly believe the book ended in such an awkward spot--at first I thought I'd downloaded it wrong!
    • 3/5
      Another great book in this series. Very addictive. I like the friendship between Jack and the doctor and the spy activities, etc.
    • 4/5
      A bit of a curate's egg in that whilst it had the excellent characterisation, the realism, the evocative prose of all Aubrey/Maturin novels not a lot happened. The overall story of Aubrey and Maturin did not progress very much. But then I would guess it was often like that.
    • 4/5
      By this stage in the saga, opening one of these books is like sinking gratefully into a warm bath...
    • 4/5
      Treason's Harbour finds the crew of the Surprise in Malta while the ship undergoes repairs. Malta is crawling with spies, keeping Stephen Maturin particularly busy with espionage and counter espionage. Orders send Captain Aubrey and his crew on missions that could be compromised by leaked intelligence. Will the combination of Aubrey's nautical skill and Maturin's sharp mind keep the Surprise and its men from falling into a trap?I've wanted to try this series for a while because I've heard so many good things about it. Normally I wouldn't start in the middle of a series, but I picked this one up because I needed a book set in Malta. Enough of the series back story is included so that I didn't feel like I was missing information crucial to the plot. I thought the ending was rather abrupt, leaving some major plot threads unresolved. I liked it well enough to want to read more in the series, but I'm torn between continuing from this point in the series so I can find out what happens next or going back to the beginning of the series.
    • 4/5
      Another rollicking adventure of Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, with espionage at the forefront as Maturin tries to foil the efforts of French agents in Malta. More good nautical storytelling from O'Brian.
    • 5/5
      Great return to form after the doldrums of The Ionian Mission. Two bits that I love: "the city of Valetta was as cheerful as though it were fortunate in love or as though it had suddenly heard good news." And Captain Aubrey looking through the stern-window: "This was a sight that never failed to move him: the noble curve of shining panes, wholly unlike any landborne window, and then the sea in some one of its infinity of aspects; and the whole in silence, entirely to himself. If he spent the rest of his life on half-pay in a debtors' prison he would still have had this, he reflected, eating the last of the Cephalonian cheese; and it was something over and above any reward he could have possibly contracted for." Quibble: I think Stephen should have figured out the double agent pretty quickly.
    • 5/5
      Another cliff hanger and this novel has a bit more tension than normal as the intelligence game heats up and the reader knows more than Stephen does. Mr. O'Brian flings his men into the Red Sea (and through a bit of desert along the way) which makes for a change of scenery.
    • 3/5
      Summary/Review: The nautical adventures of Aubrey and Maturin continue. This is an average story that includes some interesting spying intrigue, Stephen Maturin in a diving bell, a mission to Egypt, and a blessedly complete absence of Diana Villiers. Other than that it's a bit bland and feels like it's there to connect to the next novel more than anything else.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this, but I also have to say that I’m having doubts. The pleasure of a roman fleuve is that each episode is a self-contained little yarn, while the larger life story of the characters ties the books together. O’Brian’s books followed that principle through the earlier volumes. However, of late, they haven’t. The subplots—Wray’s actions, Stephen and Diana’s marriage, Jack’s financial troubles—carry on from book to book, not as little background stories, but as major plot elements that do not get resolved.I enjoyed this book, but not because it moved the story along. It wasn’t even that it was full of action, for, even by O’Brian’s slender standards, there was little in this episode. I enjoyed it simply because I love O’Brian’s language, because his dry sense of humor appeals to me greatly, and because the characters are old friends. But, I’d really rather have more.
    • 5/5
      More adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, this time in Malta and the Red Sea. More espionage and high-sea adventure, where Aubrey learns the HMS Surprise is to be decommissioned, and Maturin's diving bell is put to use retrieving false prize from the bottom of the sea. Five stars.
    • 5/5
      Love this one :D The dog in the cistern scene is classic, lol!
    • 5/5
      This was one of the best books of the series so far. More humor than most and a fascinating plot that takes A&M to the exotic Suez. Also an interesting spy sub-plot. Worth re-reading once the series is complete.