Hussein

Description

HUSSEIN tells the story of a young mahout - or elephant handler - his childhood and life in India and his relationship and adventures with elephants. Patrick was in his early twenties when he wrote it. First published in 1938 Hussein: An Entertainment is a marvellously readable adventure story set in India. Reviewers in the United States were particularly enthusiastic: the New York Times compared Hussein favourably to Kipling's Kim, calling it 'a gorgeous entertainment'. Thomas Sugrue wrote in the New York Herald Tribune: 'The story of Hussein is a swift-moving, well-written account of events so fantastic that moonshine was certainly their mother.Hussein, in quest after his Sashiya, is a hero as alive and as human as Tom Jones seeking his Sophia.'

Patrick O'Brian is the author of the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels. He is also the biographer of Picasso and Joseph Banks. He lives in SW France.

'Like O'Brian's seafaring yarns, Hussein is full of engaging adventures, curious lore, fond descriptions of food and scenes of battle... Here fully thirty years before Master and Commander was published is the unmistakable texture of O'Brian's historical fiction. Hussein has it all: the immersion in another world, full of local colour, the delight in a specialised vocabulary, the relish of male camaraderie, travel, treasure and fighting.' David Sexton, Evening Standard