The Far Side of the World written by Patrick O’Brian is, unlike the cover suggests with “now a major motion picture,” has nothing to do with the movie.
It is like somebody decided they liked the characters but wanted nothing to do with anything else in the book. They took the first quarter of the book and changed it so that they did capture the French ship, then ended it. Anyhow, I would suggest watching the movie before reading the book. The movie gives a good visual reference of the characters, the ships, and the workings of a sailing ship that will enhance the experience of the book.
Basically, they are sent to capture an American ship who is capturing English whalers. But during there stay in an inlet for repairs the Americans pass them. For the rest of the book, they are chasing the Americans around, but instead of finding them they come across islanders, experience severe storms, and a different American ship shipwrecked on an island who announces that the war between America and England had officially ended in their absence from England.
It is not the plot but the book’s visual description that makes it worth reading. The tall ship itself, crew activities, behaviors, and thoughts, ship work and command structure, and little odd facts about all of it. It is like a dive into history rather than into a good plot. Worth reading for anybody interested in tall ships and what it was like on them.
