WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF many kind and generous people, this book would not have been possible. Several people made invaluable contributions for which I am deeply grateful. New York magazine editor Mark Horowitz made available interview transcripts and notes from his research for his 1993 New York Times Magazine story and encouraged me. Barney Russ’s children, Charles and Elizabeth, supplied family stories and photographs, as well as permission to excerpt from Barney’s privately published autobiography Lady Day Prodigal and his letters. Sidney Russ’s son, John Reginald Russ, lent me his (and Patrick O’Brian’s) grandmother’s day book; Richard Ollard gave me permission to quote from his editorial reports; Jean Yves Goëau-Brissonière allowed me to examine his father’s World War II files; and lovely Odette Boutet opened up her heart and home to my wife, me, and our daughter, Willa, in Collioure, and shared her memories of her good friend Mary O’Brian.
To Patrick O’Brian’s intelligent and thoughtful son, Richard Russ, who spent dozens of hours in conversation with me reconstructing elements of his first thirty years, I would like to acknowledge my admiration. Although his early life was tumultuous at times, he emerged the stronger for it, became a successful husband, father, and businessman, and never soured. Special thanks to Richard’s wife, Mimi, as well.
For sharing their time, knowledge, and memories with me, I am most grateful to antiquarian bookseller Stuart Bennett; Brigadier Walter Greenway; Croesor, Wales, residents Edgar Perry Williams and Owen Tudor Owain; former William Collins chairman Ian Chapman; literary agent Richard Scott Simon; former Lippincott editor Wolcott (Tony) Gibbs, Jr. My thanks to Geoff Hunt for his account of how he became the cover illustrator for the Aubrey-Maturin novels and for his permission to show his cover sketches. For his soothing advice and guidance, my kindest regards to Dublin genealogist Harry McDowell.
I would like to thank all the members of the Russ family who helped me to assemble the history of several generations of their family. In England, Joan Russ Russell’s children Harold Russell, Gwen Russell-Jones, James Russell, and Mary Russell Morton were particularly generous with their time and effort and allowed me to quote from their mother Joan’s wonderful letter written at Crowborough during World War II, as were Olive’s son, John A. Cole, and Connie’s daughter, Linda Green. Thanks also to Brenda Russell, Charles V. J. Russ, and Dorothy Russ Collins. In Canada, my appreciation goes to Barney Russ’s widow, Fifi Russ, for her memories and anecdotes and, on the Goddard side of the family, to Morse and Jane Goddard. Finally, in Australia, Mike Russ’s son, Stanley Charles Russ, Sr., unknown to the rest of the family, stood up to be counted after the first printing of this book.
Also after the publication of the first edition of this book, I had the pleasure of corresponding with and talking to Mary’s brother, H. F. S. Wicksteed, and his wife, Dorothy, as well as their children Peter, Jane, and Joanna. This allowed for a number of very useful emendations and additions. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each of them. Many others provided me with publishing information and personal recollections, including, in England, former Rupert Hart-Davis editors Nicholas Barker and Richard Garnett; Peter Barnett (of Melbury Lodge); Wadham College, Oxford, don T. J. Binyon; G. Heywood Hill bookseller John Saumarez Smith; Patrick O’Brian cover artist Paul Wright; Royal Air Force veterans R. Noel Smith, Herbert Pinfold, and Gerald Bell. Also, Michael Clark, Stephen E. Clark, David Kerr, Tanya Ilingworth, Charles Latimer, Christopher MacLehose, Tom Pocock, James Puckridge, Francis Spufford, Lu Wanklyn, Commander Michael Saunders Watson, Beryl Richardson, and Joan Bonnor-Moris; in Wales, Commander Naish and Primrose Roche; in France, Jojo Pous, Mimi Atxer, Joseph Hiard, Jean Yves Goëau-Brissonnière; in the United States, Deirdre Bair, Joe Ditler, Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, Tom Perkins, Jonathan Raban, Roslyn Targ, Lisa Grossman Thomas, John West, Judge Jerome Zaleski; in Ireland, Michael Dolphin; in Canada, John Harland; and in Australia, Jeanette Mary Egan, Gregory William Egan, and Peter Jeans. A number of contributors wished to remain anonymous, and I offer them a silent thank-you.
As for my family and friends, I owe them a great deal. First, I would like to express my everlasting gratitude to my wife, Jessica King, whose editorial insight, moral support, and cheerful companionship both abroad and at home buoyed me throughout the process of researching and writing this book.
For their invaluable readings of the manuscript, thanks to Jessica King, David Sobel, Charlie Slack, Ben and Lila Fenton, Andy Smith, Stuart Bennett, Mark Horowitz, and Vicki Haire, each of whom contributed in his or her own way to the shaping of this book. They certainly prevented me from making numerous mistakes. Any errors that still exist are, of course, my own. I’d especially like to thank William R Cline Jr. for making his perhaps unequaled collection of Patrick O’Brian and Richard Patrick Russ first editions available to me and for his good company during my research in England and Wales, and Andy Smith, who assisted me while researching in Ireland and whose enthusiasm for the detective work at least matched my own. I’d also like to express my gratitude to my editor, David Sobel, and my agent, Jody Rein, for their much-valued guidance and encouragement, to my foreign rights agent, Agnes Krup, and to Henry Holt assistant editor Anne Geiger.
Along the way, many friends, old and new, contributed to this book. I send my thanks to John Hattendorf, Robert and Jane Mocatta, Geoffrey Morris, Eléonore Renié, Phillip and Hydrox Turner, and Logan Ward for helping me in various ways with research and or logistics.
Finally, a hardy thanks to all the researchers, whose tireless fact-finding helped me tremendously, especially Nancy Steed (my able assistant), Jane Hines and Kristin Ellis (in England), Sylvie Deroche (in France), and genealogists Duncan Harrington (in England), Sherry Irvine (in Canada), and André Schmidt (in Germany).
The following individuals and institutions were particularly helpful with my research: in England, Michael Bott at the University of Reading, Ian Thurman at the Office of National Statistics, Mrs. J. Knapman and David Hart at Shebbear College, Humphrey Osmond at the Dean Close School, Jenny McMorus at Oxford University Press, Leigh Aspin at BBC Proms, David Harris at the Crowborough Town Council, Sister Margaret McVoy of the Franciscan Sisters of Mill Hill, Steve van Dulken at the British Library Patents Office, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Public Record Office, the London Metropolitan Archives, the Family Records Centre, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Westminster Reference Library, the British Library, the Colindale Newspaper Library, the Chelsea Library, the National Arts Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Lewes Library, the Lewes Tourist Information Centre, the Sussex Past/Sussex Archaeological Society, and the Worcester Library.
In the United States, Nicholas King at the Barnes Foundation, Steve Speigel at the 92nd Street Y, the Virginia State Library, the Richmond Public Library, the James Branch Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University, Saundra Taylor and Sue Presnell at the Lilly Library at Indiana University, the University of Richmond Library, and the University of Virginia Library. In Australia, David Wilson and Anthony Staunton for research on the Royal Australian Air Force.