I didn't realise that this volume had an alternate title! Clarissa Oakes is a much better title than The Truelove, anyway, especially as Clarissa is such an interesting character. I don't say that she's an emotional void, because she clearly isn't, but it's rare to come across a character - particularly a female character - that is so basically goodnatured and yet so isolated. She's just so very self-reliant, on an emotional level, and while the tragic backstory is supposed to act as explanation, it's less compelling than the present state of the woman herself. I suspect she'll turn up again. I also suspect, to be honest, that her husband is not long for the world... she's so much more interesting than he is that he's practically a non-entity beside her.

I would very much like to see a story where Clarissa and Diana spend a good amount of time together, but I doubt I'll get it. This is primarily, after all, a story about that central male friendship between Aubrey and Maturin, and the more the books go on the more I appreciate it. (This does not apply to the battles and sea manoeuvres, which remain a lengthy bore. No wonder Maturin still doesn't know anything about ships. I bet he glazes over as much as I do.) I appreciate, too, the portrait of Aubrey as age catches up with him. He's verging on getting promoted out of the action, perhaps, and it will be interesting to see how he responds to that.