Wager

Richard Woodman

Wrenched by tragedy from a peaceful and respectable middle-class home in Victorian London, Hannah Kemball finds herself accompanying her father, Captain “Cracker Jack” Kemball, aboard the tea-clipper Erl King on a voyage to China.
It is 1869. In shanghai and Foochow, the crack British tea-clippers are loading the season’s tea, preparing for the annual race to bring their valuable cargoes and the fortunes of their swaggering crews halfway around the world to the London market.
Unfortunately for Hannah, only one thing matters t the iron-willed captains about to pit their skills against the perils of three oceans: to be the first to make it home. Overconfident of victory, Captain Kemball strikes a wager with the sinister Captain Richards of the Seawitch. The stakes: Hannah’s hand in marriage.
The race is on, and as the sails unfurl, so do the dangers for Hannah aboard her father’s ship. As the fastest sailing vessels ever built storm across the world’s oceans, she learns that this is a race with no rules, and that murder, mayhem and deceit are all part of the game.

Globe Pequot / Sheridan House

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-57409-080-2 • Paperback • July 1999 • $14.95 • (£11.99)

978-1-57409-331-5 • eBook • July 1999 • $13.99 • (£10.99)

Series: Mariners Library Fiction Classic

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Boating

Wager

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Wrenched by tragedy from a peaceful and respectable middle-class home in Victorian London, Hannah Kemball finds herself accompanying her father, Captain “Cracker Jack” Kemball, aboard the tea-clipper Erl King on a voyage to China.
It is 1869. In shanghai and Foochow, the crack British tea-clippers are loading the season’s tea, preparing for the annual race to bring their valuable cargoes and the fortunes of their swaggering crews halfway around the world to the London market.
Unfortunately for Hannah, only one thing matters t the iron-willed captains about to pit their skills against the perils of three oceans: to be the first to make it home. Overconfident of victory, Captain Kemball strikes a wager with the sinister Captain Richards of the Seawitch. The stakes: Hannah’s hand in marriage.
The race is on, and as the sails unfurl, so do the dangers for Hannah aboard her father’s ship. As the fastest sailing vessels ever built storm across the world’s oceans, she learns that this is a race with no rules, and that murder, mayhem and deceit are all part of the game.

Details

Globe Pequot / Sheridan House

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-57409-080-2 • Paperback • July 1999 • $14.95 • (£11.99)

978-1-57409-331-5 • eBook • July 1999 • $13.99 • (£10.99)

Series: Mariners Library Fiction Classic

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Boating

Reviews

Brilliantly told, the story catches every nuance¦ A convincing and compulsive seafaring story.
— Oxford Times

The sea scenes rate high marks; and the historical background is inlaid with an abundance of well-chosen detail. Altogether, this is a feast for maritime fiction buffs.
— Booklist

Wager

Richard Woodman

Wager

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