Every room in the library, and the way into each one.

Read at the pace of the voyage — the companionable Aubrey Maturin reading room. A glass of wine with you, chapter by chapter.

A corner table, an epic story, and somewhere to put the thread down.

Discover the garden, friendship, slow reading, nothing hurried.

A long series, followed properly — characters, catch-ups and all.

Three books, one long argument — kept straight from Putney to the scaffold.