The Road to Sarmarcand (2007)

Published here for the first time, The Road to Sarmarcand, Patrick O'Brian's charming 1954 adventure, features his original seafaring duo, Irish Sullivan and Scottish Ross, in a series of increasingly perilous, mostly implausible escapades. In 1930s Asia, the sailors and their posse — including an indestructible Swede and three Mongol warriors — travel to Oxford by way of the Gobi desert. Warring Kazaks, bloodthirsty monks, and horny husband hunters abound. Each encounter — related with one part double entendre (''women...they always get you down''), two parts grit (''through helmet, skull, and bone the sword bit to the ground'') — is utterly entertaining. A-