Windswept
Prepare to be swept away by this romance set in 1838. Virginia Ames has been shipwrecked in the Florida Keys on her way to Louisiana to marry the man that her father feels will give her a good future. Captain Ames has sent her on one of his ships full of cargo with her uncle. The ship is wrecked on the rocks off Key West, and, if it weren’t for Captain John Slader and his salvage team, both the goods and the lives of the people on board would be lost. The spoiled, willful Virginia sees John as a person making money off of the tragedy of others, and he needs to convince her that he is a good man and only wants to be of help. Virginia sees the wreck of her ship and the auction of the goods as a personal loss, and Captain Slader as an adversary. She learns more each day about the man and finds herself drawn to all the good she sees in him. Her father arrives to see to the sale of his cargo and prepared to escort her to Louisiana. She needs to take a hard look at what is important to her in her future life. She has to decide whether she wants to live in comfort with the politician chosen by her father, or stay with a man who has a very different way of life. Is there a future for them?
The author gives us a rare look into life in Key West in the very early Victorian period, and some of the various occupations that make a community prosper. The characters and their interaction keep the story moving and make this little book go by fast.
