The Ionian mission

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written.

All eighteen books are being re-issued in hardback by HarperCollins with stunning new jackets to coincide with a new film based on the adventures and to introduce these modern classics to a new generation.

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans of many battles, return in this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates.But Jack is now a senior Captain commanding a line-of-battle ship sent out to reinforce the squadron blockading Toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate action of his early days.

A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek islands.

All his old skills of seamanship, and his proverbial luck when fighting against odds, come triumphantly into their own.

The book ends with as fierce and thrilling an action as any in this magnificent series of novels.