Treason's Harbour

By: Patrick O'Brian

Narrated by: Patrick Tull

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

The espionage activities of cunning ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin have kept him at odds with the most important French agent in the Mediterranean, Lesueur, a man with a long memory and a taste for revenge. When that revenge takes the shape of the delicate and distracting Mrs. Fielding, who also attracts the ever-wandering eye of Jack Aubrey, Stephen's sensibilities are severely tested.

Don't miss the rest of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

©1983 Patrick O'Brian (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC.

Critic Reviews

"...comic, grim, farcical, and tragic. An essential of the truly gripping book for the narrative addict is the creation of a whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit, and O'Brian does this with prodigal specificity and generosity." (A.S. Byatt)

Every book gets better

Wonderful story, great continuing characters. Patrick Tull's narration is the best I've heard on any audio book. Start with the first book in this 21 book series and you'll be hooked. It helps to see the movie, Master and Commander, but that script was taken from several books and it omits the important Maturin espionage part of the plots throughout.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Patrick Tull finally defeated!

Finally, an accent (Italian woman), that Patrick Tull cannot do with perfection.

The book is a typical M&C - Jack is sailing around doing Jack things, while the Doctor is up to his capers and collecting organisms.

If you've ever wondered how they can do all that swimming in the ocean and never get attacked by sharks, you're questions are answered in this book. And it's particularly gruesome.....

Very enjoyable listen. The end looked tedious, but was a very big surprise, including the death of a long time character.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

The restoration of the average

"It was as though he were running a race: a race in which he had done fairly well for awhile, after a slow start, but one in which he could not hold his lead and was being overtaken, perhaps from lack of that particularly nameless quality that brought some men success when it just eluded others, though they might take equal pains. He could not put his finger on the fault with any certainty, and there were days when he could say with real conviction that the whole thing was mere fatality, the other side of the good luck that had attended him in his twenties and early thirties, the restoration of the average."
- Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour

Nearly half done with the series and I'm still as entranced with it as I was with book one (Master and Commander). O'Brian does change things up a bit with this one that spends as much time on land as on water. I was excited about the extended period spent in Malta because I'm taking my family to Malta (staying in Valletta and traveling to Gozo) this summer. It was nice to get a literary exposure to spots one will spend a few days or a week in.

Anyway, I also enjoyed the espionage focus, the diving bell, the dog, the Suez/Red Sea expedition with its Arab and Turkish flavors. Strange as it may seem, I'm also becoming a bit emotional about the HMS Surprise. Sniff.

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

Back to Sea! Enough Drama, Let's Sail!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I had worried about a series so long, glad to find the middle still entertains and pleases! I'd reccomend it to anyone with any interest in the sea or period history... quite good!

What other book might you compare Treason's Harbour to and why?

Similar to the last book in style of course, but they also both end abruptly with tense sailing action! Another good one in the series!

Which character – as performed by Patrick Tull – was your favorite?

Killick is always my favorite in all the books... his grumbling always makes me laugh!

If you could take any character from Treason's Harbour out to dinner, who would it be and why?

much tho I'd be tempted to say Jack or Steven, tho he might get tedious, I'd probably most enjoy dinner and drinks with the midshipmen... it would be neat to see them outside of their forced formality with members of rank and I bet they'd tell the best stories!

Any additional comments?

Glad to see this one get back more to the sea side of things... it got bogged down there for a while with ladies, laws, and finances while all my favorite parts are at sea. Glad to read this one as more of a return to the more adventurous and discovering aspects... with some heated battles to get your blood pumping! Much Better By Me!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Treason's harbour

This book had more with Maturin as a spy as well as the ship's physician. Loved the descriptions of Malta and I followed on the map the land travel across the Suez to the Red Sea. Patrick Tull is a great narrator. Can not wait to listen to book 10.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

My New Favourite

I love all of the Aubrey/Maturin Series but this books storyline was surprising and has added more of a desire for the next books in the series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

possibly the best one in the series yet.

Lots to show for in this one. more story on land than sea and possibly the best one yet in this series.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

amazing series

what an amazing gift the author has given us. tull was spot on. 3rd time listening through the series.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

One of the simple pleasures in life

Reading the Aubrey Maturin series has been one of the great joys of my reading life. Listening to Patrick Tull read them is like magic. It is the combination of two unique talents - O'Brian and Tull perfectly suited. Listening is an experience that transcends audiobooks and historical fiction to such a degree it cannot be adequately described.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

So Descriptive

"Treason's Harbour" is the ninth book in the series and I'm almost half way there. The only reason why I continue on at reading Aubrey–Maturin series is because Patrick O'Brian's writing. He is so descriptive. It's been wonderful to read each book so far. I have yet to be disappointed in this series.