The mysterious inheritance is the answer to a prayer. Now Irish lass Maeve Murphy and her sisters can come to America She’s sure happiness awaits her, even if it won’t–can’t–come from widowed ship doctor Flynn Gallagher. Yes, he made her his assistant, but she’s not foolish enough to fall for the man all the eligible, wealthy female passengers admire. Flynn Gallagher may have his pick of … pick of ladies, but only one cares as he does for the sick and poor. Flynn vowed never to marry another woman who could break his heart. With Maeve, has his heart found safe harbor at last?
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Ms. St John really knows how to write historical romances and in unexpected places as in this story. This is set in the mid 1800’s aboard a ship sailing from Ireland to America. I felt as if I was drawn into this story and was in every place with three sisters who just lost their father and are told to leave their property within a week. They have nowhere to go until the find a framed photo of their mother and Nora the oldest finds a hole in the back of the fabric of the frame and sees an envelope that she takes out and she reads the letter it held. It’s from a man who loved their mother and asked her to marry him but she made her choice marry another man. He tells her of a cottage he bought for her in America and they hold the deed to the property as well as the letter. Now they have a place to go to. The Murphy sisters find what they can to get enough money to go to America buy selling what treasured belongings they could and keeping the letter to their mother that has a deed to a property in America that her former love bought for her and any relatives who come to America to escape the poverty in Ireland.
They reach the docks to find the ship they will sail on and a young orphan boy is hurt on the docks and Mauve Murphy jumps right in to help this child. He is was badly hurt on his leg and bleeding quite a lot and she forms a tourniquet with a stick someone found for her on the docks. Then uses it to tighten her scarf around his leg to help stop the bleeding. The ships doctor is so impressed with her that he asked her to be her assistant on the ship. This boy has brothers that have to stow away on the ship as they saw him going aboard.
I was drawn into the story like I watched everything happening aboard the ship. I felt in the background taking in everything from the higher-class ladies snubbing the immigrants to the cooking fires each family had with their rations for the day to cook their meals next to others no matter what classes they were this was on place they became the embodiment of the ship as one. At all other times it was so different except for the few women of the higher classes that would associate with others especially the three Murphy sisters.
There is tragedy, a newborn found in the shelves in the galley where the eldest sister finds the newborn and no mother around and instantly takes charge. A woman is found dead from a fall when she tries to go overboard.
They experience the awfulness of burial at sea. There are other things when a fight breaks out and one knifes the other all for their food allotment and they he is thrown overboard as his punishment. Another burial at sea for the dead man who leaves behind a wife and a bunch of kids. Life on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean is a very trying experience for anyone and for some it’s too much. Then a budding romance between Mauve and the handsome doctor which is a bit here and there leaving Mauve a bit wondering.
This is a well written and beautiful story and full of history with a bit if Ireland, and life aboard a sailing vessel to transport immigrants to America and what all it can entail and how to adjust to the painful facts of life onboard a ship and all the illnesses they can get. There is so much to this story that Ms. St John had to do a lot of research to write it. I applaud her for her inspirational story and all that is obviously seen in life aboard a ship like this in the mid 1800’s. This story is filled with faith, inspiration, prayers, troubling times, and finally redemption for some as they overcome some tough parts of their lives and finally given up to the Father above so they can move on and enjoy the new life awaiting them in a new place.
I wholeheartedly loved this story and all it entailed and I really did feel as if I was right there watching everything unfold. It is masterful storytelling and I highly recommend this book.