SOURCE: “Something Happened on the Way to Chile,” in Spectator, Vol. 278, No. 8788, January 4, 1997, pp. 30–31.

In the following review, Teacher offers a positive assessment of The Yellow Admiral, complimenting O'Brian's great knowledge of English country life.

Fourteen years have passed since the acrimonious exchange between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin during the interval of the first and second movements of Locatelli's C-major quartet in the music-room of Government House, Port Mahon on 1 April 1800. The period covered by The Yellow Admiral (the 18th novel in the series chronicling the careers of these remarkable fictional characters) is that of the Brest blockade prior to Napoleon's abdication after the Battle of Toulouse, 10 April 1814, until his subsequent escape from Elba.

Jack Aubrey's most fervent wish, as he creeps to the top of the Captains' List, is for promotion to Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron. However, as long as the uneasy peace in Europe...