Discerning Grace
Emma Lombard
Discerning Grace features Grace Baxter, an independent woman whose feminine lens blows the ordered patriarchal decks of a 19th century tall ship to smithereens. It is historical women’s fiction that will appeal to fans of Claire Fraser from Outlander and Demelza Poldark from Poldark—in other words, fans of feisty historical female leads.
Discerning Grace is the first full-length novel in The White Sails Series.
London 1826. Wilful Grace Baxter will not marry old Lord Silverton with his salivary incontinence and dead-mouse stink. Refusing this fate, she resolves to stow away. Heading to the docks, disguised as a lad to ease her escape, she encounters smooth-talking naval recruiter Gilly, who lures her aboard HMS Discerning with promises of freedom and exploration in South America.
When Grace‘s big mouth lands her bare-bottomed over a cannon for insubordination, her identity is exposed. She must now win over the crew she betrayed with her secret.
“An engaging and utterly compelling novel. At times it reminded me of Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine’s Black Sails.” — (Mary Anne Yarde, The Coffee Pot Book Club)
