A remarkable, sparkling historical novel by the author of A Catch of Consequence.
Two women, both searching for missing people, meet in the chaos of wartime Plymouth, when Britain is at war with the French and the rebellious American colonies.
One woman, a young aristocrat recently saved from a brutal marriage by the death of her husband, is searching for the imprisoned son of a friend; the other, a self-made woman, is looking for her daughter and companions, rescued from their destroyed ship but somehow lost on arrival in Britain.
The journey of discovery both women make through docks and prisons, government offices and brothels, palatial houses and smugglers’ hideaways, brings results including an unlikely friendship.
