The Hundred Days (Aubrey/Maturin Vol. 19)

The Hundred Days (Aubrey/Maturin Vol. 19)
by Patrick O'Brian

The Hundred Days (Aubrey/Maturin Vol. 19)
List Price: $24.00
Our Price: $6.96
You Save: $17.04 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Patrick O'Brian
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-10-17
ISBN: 0393046745
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary of The Hundred Days (Aubrey/Maturin Vol. 19)

"One of the best novelists since Jane Austen....The Hundred Days may be the best installment yet....I give O'Brian's fans joy of it."?Philadelphia Inquirer

Napoleon, escaped from Elba, pursues his enemies across Europe like a vengeful phoenix. If he can corner the British and Prussians before their Russian and Austrian allies arrive, his genius will lead the French armies to triumph at Waterloo.

In the Balkans, preparing a thrust northwards into Central Europe to block the Russians and Austrians, a horde of Muslim mercenaries is gathering. They are inclined toward Napoleon because of his conversion to Islam during the Egyptian campaign, but they will not move without a shipment of gold ingots from Sheik Ibn Hazm which, according to British intelligence, is on its way via camel caravan to the coast of North Africa. It is this gold that Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin must at all costs intercept. The fate of Europe hinges on their desperate mission.
The year is 1815, and Europe's most unpopular (not to mention tiniest) empire-builder has escaped from Elba. In The Hundred Days, it's up to Jack Aubrey--and surgeon-cum-spymaster Stephen Maturin--to stop Napoleon in his tracks. How? For starters, Aubrey and his squadron have been dispatched to the Adriatic coast, to keep Bonapartist shipbuilders from beefing up the French navy. Meanwhile, one Sheik Ibn Hazm is fomenting an Islamic uprising against the Allies. The only way to halt this maneuver is to intercept the sheik's shipment of gold--because in the Napoleonic era, as in our own, even the most ardent of mercenaries requires a salary.

The Hundred Days is the 19th (and, we are told, the penultimate) installment of O'Brian's epic. Like many of its predecessors, it features a fairly swashbuckling plot, complete with cannon fire, exotic disguises, and Aubrey's suspenseful, slow-motion pursuit of an Algerian xebek. Yet it never turns into a mere exercise in Hornblowerism. Partly this is due to O'Brian's delicate touch with character--the relationship between extroverted Aubrey and introverted Maturin has deepened with each book, and even Aubrey's reunion with his childhood companion Queenie Keith is full of novelistic nuance: "They sat smiling at one another. An odd pair: handsome creatures both, but they might have been of the same sex or neither." Nor does the author focus too exclusively on his dynamic duo. Indeed, The Hundred Days is very much a chronicle of a floating community, which Maturin describes as "his own village, his own ship's company, that complex entity so much more easily sensed than described: part of his natural habitat."

Finally, O'Brian shows his usual expertise in balancing the great events with the most minuscule ones. Other authors have written about battles at sea, and still others have recorded the rapid rise and fall of Napoleon's fortunes after his escape from confinement. But who else would give equal time--and an equal charge of delight--to Maturin's discovery of an anomalous nuthatch? --James Marcus

Historical Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Historical Books
Pirate Latitudes: A Novel ImagePirate Latitudes: A Novel
by Michael Crichton
Harper; Published: 2009-11-24; Roughcut; Book
Best price: $2.49
Price in other shops: $27.99
The Master Butchers Singing Club: A Novel ImageThe Master Butchers Singing Club: A Novel
by Louise Erdrich
Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.83
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Last Witchfinder: A Novel ImageThe Last Witchfinder: A Novel
by James Morrow
William Morrow; Published: 2006-03-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $25.95
Zorro ImageZorro
by Isabel Allende
HarperAudio; Published: 2005-05-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.12
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Hot Kid: A Novel ImageThe Hot Kid: A Novel
by Elmore Leonard
William Morrow; Published: 2005-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops: $25.95
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1) ImageThe Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1)
Mass Market Paperback; Book
Bones of the Hills (Conqueror, Book 3) ImageBones of the Hills (Conqueror, Book 3)
by Conn Iggulden
Harper Collins Canada; Published: 2008; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.70
March ImageMarch
by Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Emperor (Emperor 1) ImageEmperor (Emperor 1)
by Conn Iggulden
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2003-06-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Girl With a Pearl Earring ImageGirl With a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier
Harper Collins Audio; Published: 2002-06-17; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $86.82
Similar Books and other products
The Reverse of the Medal (Vol. Book 11)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageThe Reverse of the Medal (Vol. Book 11) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1994-11-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.21
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Letter of Marque (Vol. Book 12)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageThe Letter of Marque (Vol. Book 12) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1990-08-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Thirteen Gun Salute ImageThe Thirteen Gun Salute
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1991-06-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.84
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Nutmeg of Consolation (Vol. Book 14)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageThe Nutmeg of Consolation (Vol. Book 14) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1991-08-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.94
Price in other shops: $24.00
21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (Aubrey/Maturin Series) Image21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (Aubrey/ Maturin Series)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2004-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.83
Price in other shops: $21.95
The Truelove (Vol. Book 15)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageThe Truelove (Vol. Book 15) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1992-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.09
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Wine-Dark Sea ImageThe Wine-Dark Sea
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton; Published: 1993-11-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Commodore (Vol. Book 17)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageThe Commodore (Vol. Book 17) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton; Published: 1995-04-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Yellow Admiral (Vol. Book 18)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageThe Yellow Admiral (Vol. Book 18) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1996-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops: $24.00
Blue at the Mizzen (Vol. Book 20)  (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) ImageBlue at the Mizzen (Vol. Book 20) (Aubrey/ Maturin Novels)
by Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1999-11-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.77
Price in other shops: $24.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories