Peter Simple (novel)

{{Short description|1834 book by Frederick Marryat}} {{Citations missing|date=June 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{italic title}} thumb|right|200px|First edition title page with hand written dedication from the author '''''Peter Simple''''' is an 1834 novel written by Frederick Marryat about a young British midshipman during the Napoleonic Wars.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Simple |url=https://www.historicnavalfiction.com/book-title-index/pq/peter-simple |website=Historic Naval Fiction |access-date=2 June 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Captain Frederick Marryat, 1792-1848 |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-14324 |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=2 June 2025}}</ref> It was originally published in serialized form in ''The Metropolitan Magazine'' in 1832-33, during Marryat's editorship.<ref name="warner">{{cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Oliver |title=Captain Marryat: A rediscovery |date=1953 |publisher=Constable}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hawes |first1=Donald |title=Marryat and Dickens: A Personal and Literary Relationship |journal=Dickens Studies Annual |date=1972 |volume=2 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44372476}}</ref> It is the longest of Marryat's novels and during his lifetime was the most celebrated.<ref name="warner" />

==Plot summary==

The novel describes the naval career of a young gentleman during the period of British mastery of the seas in the early 19th century. The hero of the title is introduced as 'the fool of the family', son of a parson and heir presumptive to the influential Lord Privilege. This forms a subplot among several others that run alongside the main narrative which mainly concerns the young man's journey from adolescent to adulthood amidst a backdrop of war at sea.

One of the key components of the tale is Peter's relationship with the various shipmates he meets, mainly an older officer who takes young Simple under his wing and proves invaluable in his sea education, and also a post captain who has Münchausen syndrome, among others.

==Adaptation== In 1957 the novel was adapted into a BBC television series ''The Adventures of Peter Simple'' starring Timothy Bateson.<ref>{{cite web |title=Schedules Wednesday 10 July 1957 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/service_bbc_television_service/1957-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250602110523/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/service_bbc_television_service/1957-07-10 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 June 2025 |website=BBC |access-date=2 June 2025}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://archive.org/details/petersimple01mar/mode/2up Peter Simple at the Internet Archive] *[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21577 Project Gutenberg version of the text] * {{librivox book | title=Peter Simple| author=Marryat}}

Category:Novels by Frederick Marryat Category:1834 British novels Category:1830s children's books Category:Novels set during the Napoleonic Wars Category:Novels first published in serial form Category:British children's novels Category:Children's books set on ships Category:Children's books set in the 19th century