The Uncertain Land and Other Poems

The Uncertain Land and Other Poems is the first collection of poems by Patrick O'Brian, the acclaimed author of the Aubrey/Maturin series of Napoleonic naval adventures. It combines the writer's command of language with the poet's eye for visual detail, revealing insights into the world that captivated him while he was at work on the novels. The book is intensely personal, allusive, and unique, and is published now for the first time.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 16 March 2023
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

The first ever collection of poems by the acclaimed author of the Aubrey/Maturin series of Napoleonic naval adventures, The Uncertain Land and Other Poems, has been released. Readers around the world have been transported to a place and time at once familiar and exotic, routine and dramatic. Patrick O'Brian's deep knowledge of the period and profound empathy with the landscape of the sea have ensured there is always a firm hand on the tiller. The writer's command of language is combined with the poet's eye for visual detail to remarkable and unforgettable effect. In The Uncertain Land and Other Poems, O'Brian leads us on a journey through his own life. Here, we see a writer full of a young man's spirit, challenging life, and an author reflecting an old man's melancholy at youth gone; in between, as he describes the places that he lived and people that he encountered, are poems of sly observation, wry humor, and delicate beauty. Through more than 100 poems, O'Brian reveals insights into the world that captivated him while he was at work on a succession of novels that would reach its apotheosis in the Aubrey/Maturin adventures, securing his reputation as 'the Homer of the Napoleonic Wars.' Intensely personal, allusive, and unique, this is the work of a lifetime, published now for the very first time.

Weight: 160g
Dimension: 129 x 199 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780008609757