Now the end really is in sight

books:

	• The Yellow Admiral (Aubrey-Maturin) Patrick O'Brian W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 - 262 pages average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
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Now the end really is in sight

After the false scare that the previous entry (The Commodore) was the final entry, it is possible to see the end in sight in this entry. Aubrey and Maturin are placed on blockade duty off the coast of France as Napoleon nears capture. Jack and Sophie weather a domestic crisis, and the seamen face peacetime with trepidation. Captain Jack faces the humiliation of being "yellowed"--made an admiral in name only, with no ship or fleet.

Nineteenth in the series: The Hundred Days

Five Stars, as Usual

This is the eighteenth in O'Brian's intelligent 20-volume naval series. True to form, the "Yellow Admiral" finds Captain Jack and sidekick Stephen Maturin on shore in England, where they have domestic troubles, win and lose their fortunes, and finally set to sea in the Bellona. Assigned to duty on the blockade of the French city of Brest, Jack Aubrey manages to capture a French privateer while Stephen carries out his usual intelligence activities after a nighttime landing in France. But peace breaks out. Napoleon is defeated on the continent and exiled to Elba, meaning that the British Navy will be demobilized and Jack's prospects for promotion to Rear Admiral are diminished. Just as Jack and Stephen are about to set sail for an intelligence mission in Chile, word comes that Napoleon is again on the loose. A cliffhanger ending that builds towards Napoleon's last hurrah --the Hundred Days. O'Brian's prose is as spare and intelligent as ever. The Yellow Admiral is a wonderful book.

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Anoter 5-Star Effort

The most important aspects of this story takes place on dry land in England. Patrick O'Brien paints the tapestry of 19th century rural life in terms that makes it relevant to the story and breathes life into it that it becomes personalized and completely relevant. It also is this time ashore that makes the adventures at sea so much more interesting for Jack and Stephen. It is the complexity of the characters dealing with their successes and trials at home which make the two main characters seem that much more human. Developing characters that are seemingly real is what Patrick O'Brien has mastered like no other and it is what has kept me coming back to his books (18 times so far).

Back ashore in England, Stephen is broke and Jack is once again an impecunious landowner. Jack's fortune is tied up in lawsuits related to his actions off West Africa suppressing the slave trade. To make matters worse (or more interesting), Jack's marriage is on the rocks as a result of Sophie's mother finding evidence of Jack's past infidelity. At the Admiralty, Jack's prospects are dimmed by his actions as a Member of Parliament and his opposition to the enclosure of a commons near his estate. As a side note, Patrick O'Brien clearly understands and has the ability to describe the political and economic aspects of enclosing a commons. He weaves this into the story without technical jargon and in an interesting manner. Even at sea, Jack has trouble. He captures a French privateer laden with gold and ivory, but the Admiralty believes that he ignored signals for personal gain. Troubles mount for Jack and his fear of being `yellowed' seems that it might become a reality.

When all seems lost for Jack, Stephen returns from a mission in France and back to England with forgiveness from Sophie and a reprieve for his career in the form of a possible mission to secure Chilean independence. This is especially important because the war has ended, further dimming prospects for his chance for an Admiral's flag. By the book's end, both Jack and Stephen see their personal fortunes somewhat or completely restored. And just as Jack is looking forward to this reprieve for his career, Jack is ordered to Gibraltar because Napoleon has escaped from Elba.

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The Yellow Admiral

For lovers of the Aubrey-Maturin series, this is one of the books that has it all - adventure on the high seas, home life of the early 19th century, politics of the Napoleonic era which includes military intelligence, and further development of the contrasting and intriguing characters of the two protagonists. I enjoyed it most thoroughly, and my only regret is that there are only three more to the series.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Life ashore may once again be the undoing of Jack Aubrey in The Yellow Admiral, Patrick O'Brian's best-selling novel and eighteenth volume in the Aubrey/Maturin series. Aubrey, now a considerable though impoverished landowner, has dimmed his prospects at the Admiralty by his erratic voting as a Member of Parliament; he is feuding with his neighbor, a man with strong Navy connections who wants to enclose the common land between their estates; he is on even worse terms with his wife, Sophie, whose mother has ferreted out a most damaging trove of old personal letters. Even Jack's exploits at sea turn sour: in the storm waters off Brest he captures a French privateer laden with gold and ivory, but this at the expense of missing a signal and deserting his post. Worst of all, in the spring of 1814, peace breaks out, and this feeds into Jack's private fears for his career. Fortunately, Jack is not left to his own devices. Stephen Maturin returns from a mission in France with the news that the Chileans, to secure their independence, require a navy, and the service of English officers. Jack is savoring this apparent reprieve for his career, as well as Sophie's forgiveness, when he receives an urgent dispatch ordering him to Gibraltar: Napoleon has escaped from Elba.

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