The Yellow Admiral

Jack Aubrey is not, on past form, prey to misgivings. But as he nears the top of the Captain’s list, he begins to feel an understandable lack of confidence in the process by which Their Lordships decide who shall have the glory of hoisting his flag and who shall be consigned to the retired list. But the war is still exacting in its demands.

The inshore blockade of Brest is as dangerous a service as any of Jack’s exploits in more exotic seas. Stephen is still deep in secret intelligence, and neither man has lost the power to engage the reader to close action.