Under the comic and adventurous surface of the novel are many significant social themes: the role of the adolescent female in our society; the nature of grief and mourning; family loyalty; cultural diversity; and the conflict between appearance and reality. Vesper is a delightful and admirable adolescent female protagonist, something like Pippi Longstocking in her independence but faced with much more mature circumstances.

Her attitude after her father's death is not to indulge in grief but to actively help restore his scholarly reputation.

When her guardian first sees her, he is startled to find her dressed in a red caftan and purple slippers, but she explains that these garments were a gift from her father and that he would have preferred seeing her in them than in a black veil, looking like a "walking obituary." She proposes the journey to Illyria and sees the project through...