'Completely charming' Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

'An engaging story with lovely detail' Daily Mail

Ohio, 1838. To save the lives of others, a young seamstress must risk her own.

When young seamstress May Bedloe is left alone and penniless on the shore of the Ohio, she finds work on the famous floating theatre that plies its trade along the river. Her creativity and needlework skills quickly become invaluable and she settles in to life among the colourful troupe of actors. She finds friends, and possibly the promise of more ...

But cruising the border between the Confederate South and the 'free' North is fraught with danger.

For the sake of a debt that must be repaid, May is compelled to transport secret passengers, under cover of darkness, across the river and on, along the underground railroad.

But as May's secrets become harder to keep, she learns she must endanger those now dear to her.

And to save the lives of others, she must risk her own . . .


A gloriously involving and powerful read for fans of The Essex Serpent and Tracy Chevalier's The Last Runaway.