Barbados Bound
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- USD 4.99
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- USD 4.99
Descripción editorial
Portsmouth, England,1760. Patricia Kelley, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Barbadian sugarcane planter, falls from her imagined place in the world when her absent father unexpectedly dies. Raised in a Wiltshire boarding school sixteen-year-old Patricia embarks on a desperate crossing on a merchantman bound for Barbados, where she was born, in a brash attempt to claim an unlikely inheritance. Aboard a merchantman under contract with the British Navy to deliver gunpowder to the West Indian forts, young Patricia finds herself pulled between two worlds -- and two identities -- as she charts her own course for survival in the war-torn 18th century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Collison packs an engrossing blend of historical fiction, romance, and adventure into this coming-of-age tale about a young girl desperate to claim her inheritance, first published as young adult novel Star-Crossed (Knopf, 2006) and here rewritten for adults. In November 1760, 16-year-old Patricia Kelley stows away on an English merchant ship in order to get to Barbados where she believes she is entitled to inherit Hatterby Estate, a sugar plantation, as she is the illegitimate daughter of its recently deceased owner, Sheldon Hatterby. After she's discovered hiding on the ship by the crew, she's forced to become indentured to the ship's surgeon, who takes a liking to her. As the ship navigates the war between Britain and Spain, Patricia finds that she enjoys the seafaring life and learning from the surgeon. The fast-paced story never relents as the crew faces yellow fever, death, and imprisonment. Collison does a magnificent job of capturing the excitement and danger of life on the high seas. Patricia is a steel-willed heroine, and readers will look forward to her further adventures. (BookLife)
