The Nutmeg Of Consolation

The fourteenth novel in the classic Aubrey-Maturin series finds Aubrey and Maturin shipwrecked, harassed by pirates and then in the brutal penal colonies of New South Wales.

Captain Aubrey, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent Stephen Maturin, and the crew of the Diane are shipwrecked on a remote island in the Dutch East Indies.

On foreign shores, and far from home, a friend can become a foe in a heartbeat.

[The series shows] a joy in language that jumps from every page...You're in for a wonderful voyage. --Cutler Durkee, People

With factions on board, and multiple enemies to contend with, only the most careful navigation will save them.

Thrown out of the navy for a crime he did not commit, Jack Aubrey has lost everything he held most dear.

Captain Aubrey and the crew of the Surprise are pursuing an American privateer through the Great South Sea.

"In length the series is unique; in quality—and there is not a weak link in the chain—it cannot but be ranked with the best of twentieth century historical novels."—T. J. Binyon, Independent Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy (a false accusation), he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer, brilliantly chronicled in The Letter of Marque. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin—his friend, ship's surgeon, and sometimes intelligence agent—on a diplomatic mission to prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes which would put English merchant shipping at risk. The journey of the Diane encompasses a great and satisfying diversity of adventures. Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and in the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well entrenched in the Sultan's good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.