A not to be missed book of courage and hope and fighting for what you believe in the face of adversity. The sea had me mesmerized.

The Sea Captain’s Wife is my first Jackie French book and honestly, after reading and loving this story, I am wondering why I haven’t read this author before. This book, set in 1870, is an epic tale of resilience in the face of adversity, love and loss. Strong women pepper the pages, led by central character Mari Rodrigues Lestrange McRae, who is 21 when the story opens. Born and raised on a small volcanic island off the west coast of Africa, she is keen to find a husband and, as is often done in her world when men are scarce, she is walking the beach looking for one. Enter Michael Dawson. naked, and drowned and rather good looking and it’s clear the story is off to a fascinating start. I was enthralled with the details of island life that were so real I could almost see them. I both felt for and admired the island women who were so strong and resourceful in dealing with their day to day living. As Mari’s story moved to Sydney I marvelled at the way she slowly settled into a strange and unfamiliar world and proved her worth. Michael was an interesting and mostly admirable character, certainly more so towards the end of the story. Around these two, suspicious deaths kept the plot interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

With a Jackie French book readers are always guaranteed an engaging story. This story is so unique detailing a community of women living on a remote island that is also home to a volcano. This self sufficient group of women work well together being very resourceful. Few men live on the island - excepting those who perhaps have washed ashore from a shipwreck. The main character, Mair, discovers one such man and this is their story. Of course they fall in love, however, where the story really takes off is when Mair agrees to accompany him back to Sydney.

‘Mair was the perfect wife for a sea captain, he told himself, carefully forgetting in his peace and pleasure that she knew little beyond this island, that she would find his world as strange as he found this’

Here readers will discover how Mair struggles to adjust to Sydney society with the running of the family shipping company (both of which the reader must give some leeway at her quick adaptation given her sheltered existence). Add to the story a ghost ship filled with gold, a volcano that erupts, murder and mystery and this book quickly escalates to become a great tale. Jackie draws excellent contrasts in the two ways of living Mair has been exposed to and the role of women. The ghost ship and mysterious deaths just provide an added bonus being the proverbial icing on top.

‘The most important criterion for a sea captain's wife was a woman who was used to waiting in a household of women for her husband's ship to sail to harbour.’

The Sea Captain’s Wife is another excellent book for lovers of historical fiction as it is really quite unique with its societal contrasting observations. Jackie really is a master of cleverly combining a great tale from the past with strong female characters who invariably are seeking to uncover a mystery.






This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

This is a wonderful story, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed and I am not sure how I am going to review it, there are so many different characters and settings, but the sea plays a big part, but I have to say Mair McCrae is a character I will not forget easily, strong and so caring as her life changes in so many ways when she finds her husband, come along for an adventure in life, mystery, intrigue and love.

Mair lives on Big Henry Island it is 1870 and this island is mainly woman and they make the decisions and keep the island running well, they grow food, cook, they knit clothes with their family patterns their men are sailors and leave on ships when they arrive and return when and if they can, three years ago the wave took all of their fishing boats and men and Mair lost her fiancé. The woman need and want husbands they truly are a loving group, the island tradition of searching the beach for sailors washed up they call them beachies and often they stay and become husbands.

When Mair finds Michael Dawson washed up on the beach little does she know how her life will change in the weeks that it takes Michael to heal she gets to know him well, she learns about The Ghost and he is very well liked by the woman on the island and even though they know they are living on a volcano Old Henry just grumbles but Michael is worried that that will change and soon, he loves Mair and soon they are married and he and some of the older woman convince Mair to leave the island with Michael to start a new life, this is of course very scary for Mair.

When they arrive in Sydney Australia, it takes Mair a little time to settle in and for Michael’s family to accept her and of course Michael is eager to be off again to search for the elusive Ghost that he discovered before he went overboard all those months ago, when Michael departs on the new steam ship he does not expect it to be as long as it ends up being and as for Mair strange things are happening and Mair is convinced that the Dawson family are in grave danger, will they all be safe, will Michael ever return?

This is such a well told adventure story, so many fabulous characters, it has a little of everything and is sure to please any reader who picks this one up, the sea journeys are described so well and Mair’s amazement on her journey was eye opening, I do highly recommend this one.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

I’ve long enjoyed Jackie French’s novels, and I was delighted to find that “The Sea Captain’s Wife” is another excellent historical fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed being drawn into another world, and the characters I met there.

Mair has lived all her life on a remote island dominated by women. The men leave for long stretches of time, making their livings as sailors. Each return to the island is a joyous one, reuniting them with the women who wait (and bringing some of the goods the island cannot create itself).

Recently a tidal wave drowned nearly all the men of the island, severely disrupting the rhythm of life on the island. For Mair, the wave brought sorrow with the death of her fiancé. So she now walks the beaches of the island, looking for a husband. It’s a long standing tradition on the island, where periodically sailors wash up after wrecks.

Mair doesn’t expect to find someone on her first walk, but she does. And Michael is indeed a man she can love, and who can love her. But he has obligations in the wider world, and marrying him will mean that Mair must undertake the long and dangerous journey to Australia.
Mair expects challenges, but also expects her love for Michael will help her meet them. However, the challenges are far greater than she could imagine, and soon she’s not sure whether their love will indeed be enough.

This is the story of a strong willed woman who leaves the home she has always known, with its’ promise of a comforting and predictable life. She longs for adventure and to see new things, but finds the social rules she must respect confronting and difficult. Although a fair bit of this is fairly specific to the time period she lives in, most readers will find it easy to empathise with her struggle with other people’s expectations versus her personal inclinations and instincts.

Mair is a vivid character, and most readers will quickly fall in love with her. Michael, too, is vivid. He may be a little less sympathetic, given how little he grasps Mair’s feelings, but overall readers will also empathise with and care for him.

Michael’s grandmother is a particularly delightful character; many of us will aspire to be like her when we’re “old”!

French can’t help herself – she has to slip a little tension and mystery in as well. These work well, being both realistic and well paired with the romance that is a substantial part of the story.

This is an engaging, absorbing, and entertaining novel. I found the last third surprisingly moving (I’m a bit of a tough nut to crack on that front). French’s many fans will be justifiably pleased. If you’re somehow coming to French for the first time, you should enjoy this immensely.

I will return and add links after I've published this review.

Mair McCrae was devastated when The Wave took her intended, Duncan, and all the other young men and boys from the island. Only the women, and a few older men, were left on the tiny island of Big Henry, closest port St Augustus. So Mair was upholding tradition, searching the beaches each day for a lost seafarer to be washed up, who could be her husband. When she discovered one such man, naked and close to death, she nursed him until he was well again, learning the story of him being a captain on a sailing ship, run by his father. He was pushed overboard, but managed to cling to a broken mast which drifted toward Big Henry...

In the weeks it took Michael Dawson to recover, he and Mair learned about one another. Waiting the months before a ship would appear meant Michael grew to know the islanders and what made them tick. But the ominous rumbles of Big Henry worried Michael, and he spoke to the women elders. When the ship finally appeared, Michael and Mair had married and Mair agreed to journey to Sydney, where Michael lived with his family and his business, Dawson Shipping. But Mair's innocent and naive islander ways confronted Michael's mother and grandmother and their thoughts that Mair was not good enough for their son, obvious. When Michael left on his next voyage, it wasn't long before strange, mysterious happenings occurred. Mair was worried - was there someone out there determined to eliminate all the Dawson family? Would Michael's Grandmama listen to her concerns?

The Sea Captain's Wife is a masterful tale by Aussie author Jackie French and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Filled with a variety of genres; set in the 1800s it is historical fiction, but has mystery, suspense, murder, intrigue, romance and much more to fill the pages. Detailed and indepth, I found the beauty of the island shone through Mair's eyes; the journey by sea and subsequent arrival in Sydney, saw Mair amazed at the Harbour's magnificence. And Michael's love of the sea, and of his new wife, remained a constant. Jackie French has a wondrous way with words, and it shines in The Sea Captain's Wife, which I recommend highly.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Jackie French is a master at taking history and weaving it into an engaging historical narrative that leaves you wanting to find out more about the time.

Where do I start. First I must say this is a very long book and has taken me a little while to read (well longer than normal sized books). But having said that I really enjoyed it and found it to be an intriguing, captivating and emotional read which I felt leapt off the page and made me feel as if I was there.

'You never know what the sea will give you ... or what it will take back.' That certainly sums it up! I love the setting of Big Henry Island and I love the portrayal of the women who inhabit this island. But there is so much more to this story than just the lives of the women on this island and the men that are theirs. The comparison of the women and life in Sydney to Big Henry and the mystery behind the fact someone pushed Michael Dawson, heir to a major Australian shipping firm, overboard and the story of Ghost Ships will have you utterly enthralled.

Once again Jackie French has done her research well and has written a wonderful story that will keep you reading right to the end. A brilliant book and one I highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Australia, HQ (Fiction, Non Fiction, YA) for giving me the opportunity to read adn review this book.

‘You never knew what the sea would give you.’

On Big Henry Island, women make most of the decisions. Men spend most of their time at sea. There’s a tradition here, where women search for eligible shipwrecked sailors as husbands. Such men are known as ‘beachies’. And, while following this tradition, Mair Rodrigues Lestrange McCrae rescues a naked half-drowned man. His name is Captain Michael Dawson, heir to a major Australian shipping firm. He was pushed overboard while sailing from England to Australia, shortly after boarding a mysterious ‘ghost’ ship with a cargo of gold. Who pushed Michael overboard, and why? Mair cares for Michael, they fall in love, and she agrees to accompany him home to Australia after the arrival of a ship makes this possible. Meanwhile the comparatively idyllic life on Big Henry Island is under threat. The island is an active volcano and there are worrying signs that it may erupt.

A ship arrives. Michael and Mair leave the island for Sydney. On arrival in Sydney, Mair learns that the independent life she enjoyed on Big Henry Island is not possible. The role of women in Sydney society in the 19th century is confined by convention and dress. And soon enough, Michael leaves. His responsibilities take him back to sea, and he wants to find the ‘ghost’ ship. Michael has dreams for the family shipping firm: steamships would enable far more profitable voyages between Australia and England.

Ms French provides intrigue and mystery in this novel, as well as a look into a unique social environment. Mair faces many challenges while Michael is away, including negotiating her own place in Michael’s family. His grandmother, defying convention, manages the company operations while Michael is away. Michael’s mother, a far more conventional society lady, struggles with her own prejudices concerning Mair. By providing glimpses into Mair’s everyday life, Ms French shows us the contrast between life on Big Henry Island, and expectations in Sydney. In both places, women wait for men to return but in each place they do so differently. Meanwhile Mair finds herself torn between wanting to return to Big Henry Island and life with Michael in Sydney.

In addition to the cleverly drawn contrasts between the roles of women on Big Henry Island and in Sydney, there’s the continuing mystery of who pushed Michael overboard. Other mysterious deaths in Sydney are also of concern.
Another terrific story from Ms French. Highly recommended.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Mair McCrae finds a naked and unconscious man in the shallows on the beach on Big Henry Island. His name is Captain Michael Dawson, he was sailing from England to Australia, when he came across a ‘ghost ship’, eerily abandoned at sea and that's the night he went overboard. Big Henry Island is mainly inhabited by women, the men go to sea and only return when they can. The women make the decisions, take care of the children, grow food and are almost self-sufficient.

Mair and Michael marry, she decides to travel with him back to Australia, and first they will stop, send provisions and help back to Big Henry Island. Michael has told Mair Australia is full of opportunities, different animals and vegetation. Mair has only lived in her tiny community, being aboard the ship is strange enough and she’s worried what Michael’s mother and grandmother will think of her?

Mair feels like a fish out of water in Australia, she’s not used to wearing so many layers of impractical clothing, having a maid, society has so many rules and ladies don’t do anything and Mair is used to being busy and she misses her family. Michael returns to sea, he’s obsessed with three things, a new ship he’s bought that’s powered by steam and finding the ‘Ghost’ and he hopes the treasure is still in it's hold. In Sydney, Mair starts putting odd occurrences and events that's been happening together, does someone have a vendetta against the Dawson family and why?

I received a copy of The Sea Captain’s Wife by Jackie French from Harlequin Australia and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. This is the author’s first fictional historical novel, women did look for ‘beachies’ or men who washed ashore in some island communities and that's how they found a husband.

I really liked manner of the narrative, it emphasized the strong community of women, how they all worked and lived together and on top of a volcano and their customs and traditions. The steamy relationship between Michael and Mair, how it evolved, her being willing to leave the island and despite her fears of not being good enough.

I come from a seafaring family, all of my ancestor on my mother's side were fishermen or deckhands and my dad was a member of the Australian merchant navy and it's hard to ignore the lure of the sea and especially when it's in your blood, I loved Ms. French's well written and entertaining nautical historical mystery, I could relate to many of the aspects in the story and five stars from me.

I love Jackie French’s books and was looking forward to this new title. It took me a few chapters to get into the story but once I did I couldn’t put the book down.
There is a community of women living on a remote island called Big Henry Island which has a volcano grumbling above it. The women are a self sufficient community who look to the sea for ‘beachies ’, washed up sailors from ship wrecks so they can find a husband. There are very few men living on the island as they usually return to sailing and only come home for short periods.
Mair finds a ‘beachie’ Michael Dawson after he is pushed off his ship after he had found gold on a ghost ship. Mair cares for Michael and brings him back to life and they fall in love but Michael cannot stay on the island he has to return home to Sydney to look after his family’s shipping company and find the ghost ship that has caskets of gold. Mair returns with him and at first struggles to adjust to a new way of life and a completely different culture to what she is used to but Michael’s mother and grandmother take Mair under their wing. . Strange things happen to members of the Dawson family and Mair believes someone is trying to kill them for control of Dawson shipping. She is determined to find out who it is.
This is a story of family, love, loyalty, hope and resilience. It also provides an interesting commentary on the social norms of early Australia.

I was lucky to receive a book from my request at NetGalley..
It was a story of women on an island who were self sufficient and would wait for "beachies" to appear so they could find a husband,
Mair found a :"beachie" washed up on the island , feel in love, married and followed Michael home.
Here she learns a new way of life and how to survive in a very different culture.
When Mair suspects a murderer is in their midst she finally discovers the culprit but alas too late for some.

This novel is different to the authors previous ones so it took me a little longer to get into the story.

For me this book is about love , resilience and diversity and how people can grow to love and accept everyone, regardless of where they are from.

I would recommend this novel to historical fiction fans and in particular, those that like a twist in the end,

Jackie French, The Sea Captain's Wife, Harlequin Australia. HQ (Fiction, Non-Fiction, YA) & Mira, March 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

The Sea Captain’s Wife is an engaging amalgam of Jackie French’s knowledge of the intriguing historical hunt for marriageable shipwrecked sailors; meticulous attention to depicting an authentic social environment, and characters who realistically portray social mores of the period. Starting life on a remote island, where the community’s rules encourage social cohesion, to her sojourn in Australia, where the prevailing ideals are diametrically opposed to those of the island, Mair Rodrigues Lestrange McCrae is a strong, thoughtful and captivating character. At twenty-one, she is wedded to the idea of finding a beachie – a man thrown up by the sea and available for marriage – and she does so. Her courting takes place in her family’s cottage as Michael Dawson recovers from his near drowning after having been pushed off the ship he had captained on its journey between Australia and England.

The story of Mair and Michael’s courtship, with its picturesque island traditions and judicious use of island language makes an excellent contrast with their lives in Sydney. Here, Mair must navigate the life as the wife of a sea captain and heir to the large shipping empire of the Dawson family. Mysteries are gradually unfurled as Michael seeks the ghost ship that he boarded before being pushed overboard; and the family dynamics around the business become fraught. Michael’s grandmother’s historic and continuing role in the business and Mair’s burgeoning interest in becoming a part of it raises gender issues, as does the vivid contrast depicted between women’s behaviour and expectations while alone waiting for their husbands to return to the island or Sydney. Class issues are raised in relation to Mair and her new life and the choice of a ship’s captain. Racism is explored as Mair’s background is considered, along with the slave trade. The move from sail to steam is portrayed graphically through the dangers associated with each: the doldrums and lack of wind, the impact of storms, and the power of steam to forge a new way of shipping, or its downside, create new dangers for sea crews.

Effective story telling is one feature of this work. Another is the way in which it is demonstrated that there are challenges in both island and city living and that both require the thoughtfulness and strength exhibited by Mair, but also her new Dawson relatives. Jackie French has written a novel that resonates with humour, as well as thoughtful social commentary. One to read and ponder.