Patrick O'Brian, the late author of the immensely popular Aubrey-Maturin novels, zealously guarded the details of his past. Now Dean King - an expert on nautical literature and on O'Brian's novels - unveils the story of Richard Patrick Russ, a writer and intellectual who emerged from the Second World War as Patrick O'Brian, a persona created in his own imagination and later refined by decades of rumour and speculation. Drawing on interviews with relatives (including O'Brian's brother and son), friends and colleagues of his famously reclusive subject, King has fashioned a wealth of information into a dramatic and illuminating account of O'Brian's life and work.