The Catalans

Summoned from his medical practice in China by a bevy of anxious aunts, Alain Roig returns to his Catalan hometown to discover he has been nominated by family members with vested interests in the ancestral property to prevent an impending marriage between his cold, ascetic cousin Xavier and Madeleine, a quiet, introspective village girl of unusual beauty. As Alain seeks to understand his cousin''s complex motivations for wooing the unhappy girl, he is slowly drawn into Xavier''s dark crisis of faith, the well-worn pattern of the sleepy Catalan days and the tight circle of village gossip that surrounds Madeleine. Throughout, Patrick O''Brian''s slow, seductive narrative lures the reader into the landscapes, rhythms and passions of Catalonia, while his subtle, insightful characterisation paints a psychological portrait of a unique way of life and two very different men - one generous and impulsive, the other desperate to revive in his soul the dying flames of affection which he senses could be his salvation. With themes and characters that in many ways prefigure his enormously successful Aubrey/Maturin series, THE CATALANS demonstrates all the insight, lyricism and psychological drama that made O''Brian one of the best storytellers of his generation.

About the author

Patrick O’Brian was born in 1914 and published his first book, Caesar, when he was only fifteen. In the 1960s he began work on the idea that, over the next four decades, evolved into the twenty-novel long Aubrey–Maturin series (with an extra unfinished volume published posthumously). In 1995 he was awarded the CBE, and in 1997 he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Trinity College, Dublin. He died in January 2000 at the age of 85.

Nikolai Tolstoy is an English-Russian author and Patrick O’Brian’s step-son, their relationship spanned forty-five years during O’Brian’s marriage to Mary Tolstoy, NIkolai’s mother.

He has written a number of books, including Patrick O’Brian – The Making of a Novelist, The Coming of the King and Victims of Yalta. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1979.

Product details

• Authors: Patrick O’Brian, Patrick O’Brian, Patrick OâEUR(TM)Brian, Patrick O'Brian
• Assisted by: Tolstoy Nikolai (Introduction)
• Publisher: Harper Collins Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.12.2024
• EAN: 9780008696566
• ISBN: 978-0-00-869656-6
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 204 mm x 30 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Romance, FICTION / Sagas, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), France, FICTION / Literary, Spain, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), FICTION / Psychological, FICTION / Medical, FICTION / Small Town & Rural, Family life fiction, Contemporary lifestyle fiction, c 1950 to c 1959, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Religious and spiritual fiction, Religious & Spiritual Fiction, C 1945 To C 1960, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Classic fiction: general and literary, The;Of;Brontë;Love;Family;Marriage;Romance;Modern