Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Fiction
  3. Contemporary fiction

Read and listen for free for 30 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
0.0(0)

The Catalans

Set amongst the rolling vineyards and gentle courtyards of a small seaside village in Catalonia, Patrick O'Brian's second novel is a poignant story of tumultuous love, complex faith and one man's desperate bid to reclaim his humanity.

Summoned from his medical practice in China by a bevy of anxious aunts, Alain Roig returns to his Catalan hometown to discover he has been nominated by family members with vested interests in the ancestral property to prevent an impending marriage between his cold, ascetic cousin Xavier and Madeleine, a quiet, introspective village girl of unusual beauty. As Alain seeks to understand his cousin's complex motivations for wooing the unhappy girl, he is slowly drawn into Xavier's dark crisis of faith, the well-worn pattern of the sleepy Catalan days and the tight circle of village gossip that surrounds Madeleine.

Throughout, Patrick O'Brian's slow, seductive narrative lures the reader into the landscapes, rhythms and passions of Catalonia, while his subtle, insightful characterisation paints a psychological portrait of a unique way of life and two very different men – one generous and impulsive, the other desperate to revive in his soul the dying flames of affection which he senses could be his salvation.

With themes and characters that in many ways prefigure his enormously successful Aubrey/Maturin series, THE CATALANS demonstrates all the insight, lyricism and psychological drama that made O'Brian one of the best storytellers of his generation.


Author:

  • Patrick O’Brian

Narrator:

  • John Hopkins

Format:

  • Audiobook

Duration:

  • 7 h 18 min

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Fiction
  • Contemporary fiction
  • Historic and folklore novels
  • Religious novels
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Feel-good and chick lit
  • Classics and poetry
  • Classics

More by Patrick O’Brian

Skip the list
  1. Master and Commander

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  2. The Far Side of the World

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  3. Testimonies

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  4. The Golden Ocean

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  5. The Golden Ocean

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  6. The Unknown Shore

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  7. The Unknown Shore

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  8. The Complete Short Stories

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  9. The Complete Short Stories

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  10. Men-of-War : Life in Nelson’s Navy

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook
  11. The Uncertain Land and Other Poems

    Patrick O’Brian

    audiobook

  • 34 books

    Patrick O’Brian

    Patrick O’Brian was born in 1914 and published his first book, , when he was only fifteen. In the 1960s he began work on the idea that, over the next four decades, evolved into the twenty-novel long Aubrey–Maturin series (with an extra unfinished volume published posthumously). In 1995 he was awarded the CBE, and in 1997 he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Trinity College, Dublin. He died in January 2000 at the age of 85.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5