Patrick O'Brian: The Making of the Novelist, 1914-1949

Much better than I expected and much better than King's bio. Here is so much meat for the interested reader in O'Brian as a young man and it explains how O'Brian became who he was. I hope that Tolstoy writes a "Volume 2".

This is an extremely well written summary of the first 35 years of Patrick O'Brian/Richard Patrick Russ/Richard Ross's life. Nikolai Tolstoy does a superb job mapping the parallels between the unattested portions of his step-father's life through a detailed analysis of O'Brian's 3rd and autobiographical novel, Richard Temple. Tolstoy's interpretations is measured and credible. While critical of certain points in Dean King's portrait, he avoids getting excessively embroiled in their differences. What I still am at a loss to understand is exactly what prompted O'Brian's name change at the end of WWII, particularly given that Richard Russ operated as Richard Ross while working with what appears to have been one of the propaganda branches of British Intelligence during WWII. Tolstoy teasingly describes how Richard Russ a.k.a. Richard Ross had assumed the identity of an academic with a PHD from an Italian University. Was Richard/Patrick escaping these lies? The other area that remains unexplored is Patrick O'Brian's craftsmanship. Tolstoy certainly makes clear that Russ/Ross/O'Brian leveraged many of his life experiences when writing his short stories (and many themes reappear in the Aubrey/Maturin series). But how did a largely uneducated writer evolve such a potent writing style. Tolstoy himself is no mere scribbler. The writing is very clear and moves the reader effortlessly along. But what of his subject's beautiful style? Tolstoy apparently had access to manuscripts from this earlier period. Do they tell us anything? Finally, I believe that this book will help readers look at the characters in Aubrey/Maturin series, especially the female characters, in a new and richer light. Tolstoy is currently working on Part II of his O'Brian biography.