The Ionian Mission

Captain Jack Aubrey is pulled from prize-money hopes into blockade duty off Toulon in the ship Worcester, with Stephen Maturin again aboard as surgeon and intelligence agent. A winter of dull, damaging service in the Mediterranean gives way to a political mission among the Ionian islands, where rival Greek and Turkish interests, and a dangerous local ruler, must be weighed against the needs of the war with France. Jack's stalled career and Stephen's secret work run in parallel. The book is a naval novel of blockade and diplomacy, not a history of the Adriatic campaigns.

Bound in dark bue buckram, cover blocked in gilt and colour with a design by Neil Gower. 12 pages of colour and black & white plates, and 6 black & white tailpieces. Map endpapers printed dark grey on light blue. Blue slipcase.