Testimonies by Patrick O'Brian

by Patrick O'Brien

Paperback

Published January 1, 1776

About the author

Patrick O'Brien has been a full-time illustrator and artist since 1985. His clients have included National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, and the Smithsonian. His art has appeared in magazines and newspapers, on posters and greeting cards, and even on billboards.

Patrick is the author and illustrator of twelve picture books for children. These are mostly non-fiction books about things like knights, pirates, ships, and dinosaurs, although he has done a couple of science-ficition books about dinosaurs in space.

In 2003 Patrick began creating oil paintings of maritime scenes. In 2010 the U.S. Naval Academy Museum mounted an exhibition featuring twenty-eight of his maritime paintings. In 2012, The National Maritime Historical Society awarded O’Brien with their Distinguished Service Award for his body of artwork. See www.PatrickOBrienStudio.com

Patrick teaches part-time in the illustration department at The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD.

Reviews

[jess mak · Rating 3 out of 5]

.99 cent book from Magus Books.. me and Izy read together! I liked a lot of the little reflections about what it means to fall in love- the ease of silence, the knowing exchanges of eye contact, the feeling of being inside someone’s head/ soul. I enjoyed the different POV switches, but ending made me sad and wish I got to know Bronwyn better- book felt heavily from Pugh’s perspective.

[Izy Carney · Rating 4 out of 5]

[This review was pending Jess finishing the book]

This book felt like something I’d read in high school lit class, which at this moment in time, I really enjoyed. Kind of a Romeo - Juliet tale, but with reflections on the tumultuous secret lives of families and how those unsaid things are never really that secret at all. The story reflects some amount of class conflict that feels true today. The dark-side-of-small-religious-towns trope holds universal to some degrees, and whether this is closer to Pugh’s speculations on man as he is meant to be vs man as society forces upon him is left ambiguous. I did not understand the interview narrative of the book or why it was necessary to the story. I thought maybe it would be explained by the end but was not.

[Fun to read a book w Jess love u jess]

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have much enjoyed Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, some of the books more than once. This early book shows the author's flexibility. The story is set in the Welsh countryside, with a main character who is English rather than Welsh. O'Brian paints with detail, and the reader can all but hear the livestock and smell the various farm and household scents, even through the 'testimonies' of the characters. He also has a nice touch with advancing the plot through the perspectives of various characters with a good mix of the mundane, the obscure, the honorable, and the scandalous.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thoughts here: https://acompleteexperience.substack....