Lacking Natural Simplicity

The Commodore, by Patrick O'Brian, copyright 1994; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1994. I find the latter books in the Aubrey/Maturin saga more difficult to read, not because they are of lessor quality or more difficult in and of themselves, but rather because the protagonists' lives are more emotionally strained than in the earier books. In this book Maturin is harrowed by the condition of his young daughter, who he meets for the first time after years away at sea, and the estrangment from his wife that has resulted. But there is hope for both problems. And there is at least one very important first meeting in this book that will have many influences in the rest of the series.