A placeholder episode in the Aubrey-Maturin saga. The entire book concerns an uneventful cruise in which the Surprise suffers from internecine tension due to the presence of a woman on board. (The original English title, Clarissa Oakes, is far more suitable.) The strain creates a hitch in the usual smooth cooperation of the crew, and a concomitant hitch in the usual smooth flow of O'Brian's prose. They - both the crew and the prose - still get the job done, but it's not as pleasant as it should be.
Stephen knew that he had said all this before, off the many, many islands and remote uninhabited shores they had passed, irretrievably passed; he knew that he might be being a bore; yet the tolerant smile on Martin's face, though very slight indeed, vexed him extremely.
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