The Seafaring Women of the Vera B.

The captain is dead, and the crew has deserted, but the captain’s staunch widow believes there are always options.

It’s 1854 Australia, and Alice Packard is alone. With the captain dead in Melbourne, Alice thinks the worst has happened, until she learns the crew has deserted her husband’s ship in favor of the goldfields. Only one old man, Gypsy Deak, sticks by her, but Gypsy alone can’t raise a crew from the depleted population. In desperation, Alice turns to the only source of plentiful workers: the women of Melbourne. In a bold move, she and Gypsy empty a brothel, promising the escaped women a new life. Her all-woman (save one) crew put their backs and hearts into the voyage, but Alice finds training her sailors much harder than she expected. Her faith is tested to the limit. With a cargo to sell, angry brothel and tavern owners in pursuit, pirates to evade, and a mysterious stowaway, will the seafaring women of the Vera B. survive to tell the tale of this daring adventure?

Susan’s son Jim has joined his mom in writing this fast-moving adventure. Discover how fast desperate women can learn to sail a ship.