The Sea Captain's Wife

October 18, 2010
Powning's 19th-century tale of a young woman desperate to live at sea with her captain husband is a grim rather than swooning romance. When Azuba married Nathaniel, she thought that as husband and wife they would exploring the world together on his boat, Traveller. But when Carrie is born, Nathaniel insists Azuba stay safely ashore at home in Whelan's Cove, New Brunswick, Canada, to raise their daughter. During Nathaniel's long absences, Azuba befriends Rev. Simon Walton, and their companionship sparks rumors of an affair that even reach Nathaniel, who returns to Whelan's Cove in a jealous rage. But Azuba persuades him to finally bring her and Carrie aboard ship, turning a long-held dream into bittersweet reality. Powning deftly details life at sea, but the incidents she unfolds are unerringly bleak, making the reader feel adrift in the doldrums with no way out, and not until the end does happiness swell in Azuba's direction.

December 1, 2010

Since she was a child watching ships set sail from the Bay of Fundy, Azuba has longed for life onboard a ship. Her marriage to Capt. Nathaniel Bradstock appears to fulfill that dream, until her new husband breaks his promise to take her with him and leaves her "safe" at home. But when Azuba's friendship with the new vicar causes a scandal, Nathaniel brings his family along. Life at sea with a distant husband is not quite what Azuba had envisioned, but she and daughter Carrie quickly adapt to their exciting, sometimes difficult, and always dangerous new life. Powning's (The Hatbox Letters) latest work is an absorbing novel with evocative descriptions of life at sea in the 1860s. Readers may be left wishing for a bit more character development, as any sense of what makes Nathaniel tick is lost between storms, near starvation, attempted mutiny, pirates, and pregnancy. We see why Azuba loves life at sea but not why she loves her uncommunicative husband. VERDICT This is a compelling historical novel with a strong female protagonist and an exciting plot. Sure to appeal to fans of women's historical fiction. [Five-city author tour.]--Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., MA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2010
Living in nineteenth-century Nova Scotia as the daughter of a shipbuilder, Azuba Galloway has always dreamed of someday marrying a sea captain and sailing the world with him. When she marries the dashing Nathaniel Bradstock, captain of the Traveller, her dreams are crushed when he insists she stay home because its too dangerous to bring her aboard a ship, especially after she becomes pregnant. When Azuba inadvertently creates a scandal at home, Nathaniel is forced to take mother and child aboard to save their reputations. Its a pyrrhic victory for Azuba, who soon learns that Nathaniel is a different person aboard a ship and that sailing the world is not quite the exotic experience she imagined. As the three of them sail around the globe to many foreign ports of call, they face danger, starvation, pirates, mutinies, and monotony, and Azuba must fight to keep her family together and reconcile her childhood dream of sailing with the reality she now faces. An exciting, adventurous story about a womans hidden strength.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)