It's 1850 in England, the Chandler family are getting ready to embark on their new life as immigrants, but Henry Chandler's employers don't know that. Henry has worked for the Cunard shipping line for quite a while and one of the benefits is passage on the ships for Henry and his wife and a discount for their children. They have decided that they will take a "vacation" by booking the free and discounted passage to America, but they won't be coming back. As they are boarding the ship, they see the captain in a heated argument with a well dressed young lady. Henry's wife, Alexandra, determines that the young lady would like to engage passage on the steamship, but the captain is refusing, because she doesn't have anyone to escort her. The family decides that they can vouch for the young lady and protect her on their voyage across the ocean and the young lady, Gloria, is allowed to book passage. She boards with the family, after telling Henry of her troubles. Gloria's mother has decided that she must marry a viscount, unfortunately the viscounts previous wife died at his hands, and Gloria knows that unless she wants to end up the same way, she must get away and quickly. But Gloria's mother is not willing to give up so easily and sends hired mercenaries after her daughter to America. The result is both Gloria and Marc Chandler being prisoners of the mercenaries. But will they be able to outsmart them and get away to join the other members of their Mormon faith in the west.
I enjoyed this book. The story was engaging. The characters seemed real. I love historical fiction like this, because you are able to learn things about other times that you wouldn't otherwise know. I learned a lot about traveling in Panama in the 1850's that I'd never even thought about. I also learned about Sam Brannon and just what happened to him after his disagreement with Brigham Young about the final destination of the Mormons. Labels: Jerry Borrowman, LDS Historical