The Commodore
The Aubrey–Maturin Series: Book #17
- By: Patrick O’Brian
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hours 52 minutes
Description
This is the seventeenth novel in the bestselling Aubrey-Maturin series of naval tales, which the New York Times Book Review has described as “the best historical novels ever written.”
Having survived a long, 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’s disastrous. His little daughter appears to be autistic, incapable of speech or contact, while his wife, Diana, unable to bear this situation, has disappeared. The child has been left in the care of the widowed Clarissa Oakes.
Much of the story takes place on land, but the roar of the great guns is never far. Soon 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. The climax of the story is one of those grand, thrilling fleet actions on which the British Navy’s supremacy was founded.
The subtle interweaving of the disparate themes in this wonderfully wrought novel is an achievement of pure storytelling by one of our greatest novelists.
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The Aubrey–Maturin Series Series

The Fortune of War
By: Patrick O’Brian
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Length: 10 hours 29 minutes
Abridged: No
After nearly losing the Leopard to the ocean, Captain Jack Aubrey, RN, and his diminished crew sail into harbor in the Dutch East Indies. There Aubrey finds himself appointed to the command of the fastest and best-armed frigate in the Royal Navy, but not before some forceful arguing with Admiral Drury. Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin take... Read more »
Learn more
The Commodore
By: Patrick O’Brian
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Length: 9 hours 52 minutes
Abridged: No
This is the seventeenth novel in the bestselling Aubrey-Maturin series of naval tales, which the New York Times Book Review has described as “the best historical novels ever written.”
Having survived a long, desperate adventure in the Great South Sea, Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin return to England to very different circumstances. For... Read more »
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