Louise Titchener

I really like historical fiction in which the author shows me a broad and detailed view of an unfamiliar setting. This takes a lot of research and imagination, and Titchener does it here in spades.

Florida in 1885 WAS much like the wild west. Our hero, Oliver Redcastle, is a detective from Baltimore on assignment to find a missing investor in Tampa. We follow Redcastle’s adventures from the glittering high society of Tampa, to the horrors of imprisonment in a backwoods turpentine camp, through hair-raising escapes in the wilderness and at sea, and finally to a series of violent encounters in the Everglades.

The author is also sensitive to historical social issues, and we’re exposed to believable characters from diverse races, classes, and economic backgrounds. These include Cuban gun runners, con men, Florida crackers, and a kick-ass Lady detective (who, like Redcastle himself, is beautifully drawn, evincing not only courage and determination, but depth and vulnerability).

I loved everything about this novel. If you like historical fiction, I think you will too.… (mere)

This book is more a memoir of Jean Silverwood's experience of going to sea with her family than it is a true seafarer's adventure story. Having read many of those, as the wife of a sailor, I expected there to be more about the sailing conditions, details about the boat, and the disaster alluded to in the title. (Sea disasters usually end up with survivors floating for days in open rubber life rafts, thirsty, hungry, and sunbaked before they are finally rescued.) So if you are looking for the typical disaster yarn you will be disappointed. However, if you want to hear a first hand tale of what it's like to live aboard with 4 children and a marriage that is just barely holding together, this is the book for you.… (mere)

Black Wave combines true-life adventure on the high seas with an intimate portrait of family life under stress. Jean Silverwood does a great job maintaining suspense, as she intersperses the harrowing survival story with character-revealing flashbacks. Her unflinching honesty proves the courage shown during the shipwreck. Jean had my heart racing and a few tears flowing.
I also enjoyed her husband John's more analytic reflection in 'Book II.' He provides a fascinating historical comparison to another shipwreck - on the very same reef - in 1855. While not the page-turner of Book I, this account provides context for an equally intimate window onto his examination of conscience: How could I have lead my family into this crisis? We're also privy to his wrenching search for redemption amidst human limitation.
This is a generous book, and a great read!… (mere)