Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian; The Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 5; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Simon Vance

Captain Jack Aubrey has been getting into trouble during his time ashore, his trusting nature causing him problems in both business and cards. His friend, surgeon Stephen Maturin, is having a little trouble of his own. Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Aubrey Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy—and a treacherous disease that decimates the crew. With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the undermanned, outgunned Leopard sails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic, where, in mountainous seas, the Dutchman closes in.

“Good history, fascinating erudition, espionage, romance, fever in the hold, a wreck in lost latitudes, and an action at sea that for sheer descriptive power can match anything in sea-fiction.”—Guardian

"The best thing afloat since Horatio Hornblower."—Observer

“[Patrick O'Brian has] the power of bringing near to the reader...savagery and tenderness, beauty and mystery and boldness and dignity.”—Eudora Welty

“I have been enthralled since reading Master and Commander. Now, having just finished Desolation Island, I find myself curiously anxious to slow down. True, nine volumes await me, but what I have read is so rich and splendid that I need to ponder and digest.”—Robert Massie, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

The late Patrick O'Brian was the author of more than twenty Aubrey-Maturin historical adventures. There are over five million copies of his books in print.

Simon Vance, a former BBC Radio presenter and newsreader, is a full-time actor who has appeared on both stage and television. He has recorded over four hundred audiobooks and has earned over twenty Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, including one for his narration of Theft by Peter Carey. A twelve-time Audie finalist, Simon has won three Audie Awards, including one for Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and the 2008 Booklist Voice of Choice Award. He has also been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.