Clarissa Oakes (titled The Truelove in the United States) is the fifteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1992.

En route, Maturin learns the key to finding the high level agent giving British information to the French, while Aubrey addresses the unhappy crew of Surprise.

"[1] One reviewer compared O'Brian's writing style to that of several famous writers, considering that he has left C S Forester far behind, and is "one of the best storytellers afloat," with use of nautical detail that is "unalloyed, unapologetic and absolutely right.

Aubrey observes ribaldry amongst his crew and remains puzzled until he and Pullings find a young female convict, Clarissa Harvill, during the ship's inspection.

Despite the delicious swordfish speared by Davies (after it pierced the ship), good conversation is impaired by the level of animosity existing amongst the gun room members, most visibly West and Davidge.

While the crew provisions Surprise, Clarissa, who has received a black eye from Oakes, confesses to Maturin on their botanizing walk together about her being sexually abused as a young girl and later working as a bookkeeper and occasional prostitute at a brothel in Piccadilly.

Surprise then sails to the south of the island to defend Queen Puolani against the main body of French and Kalahua's tribesmen, as she agrees to accept the protection of King George III.

Dick Adler writing in the Chicago Tribune has high praise for this novel, finding it "a pure joy to read-on its own or as part of the glorious whole.

But it's a perfect title, because the slim and lively girl who stows away on the HMS Surprise as it sails from Botany Bay is the real heart of O`Brian's moving and erotic story."

Adler feels that Clarissa Oakes' presence "gives O`Brian a chance to explore their [Aubrey and Maturin's] characters in exceptional depth."

[1] Anthony Bailey, writing in The New York Times, finds that this novel puts the reader "on board the Surprise in the South Pacific in the early 19th century amid a swirl of nautical detail, unalloyed, unapologetic and absolutely right."

"[2] The relationship between the principal characters is "One of the delights of these books", where "Aubrey is a sailor in his blood and bones" and Maturin "remains a landlubber the non-seafaring reader can identify with.

All the naval minutiae of the early 19th century are evidently in his grasp, but like the Surprise's maintopsails, they are used to drive the book forward, a great show that also has cumulative effect."

Bailey highlights many aspects of the plot, which issues are addressed by Aubrey, and which are handled by Maturin, and notes that in this novel, the officers have a particularly varied diet, including "a suicidal swordfish, soused pig's face and a Polynesian stew in which a human ear floats.