Lives are about to be irrevocably changed following a typhus outbreak on a cramped emigrant ship bound for Australia.
1850 Sarah Hallow is orphaned, penniless and alone, with only the skills learned from her midwife mother to guide her. Passage on a ship bound for the new settlement of Brisbane, Australia, is her last option. Though her skills are quickly dismissed by the ship's doctor, Sarah is pleased to find instant friendship with her cabin mate, Bridie, a fiery Irish girl with a sharp tongue and midwifery skills of her own.
When the two women come to the aid of a labouring woman onboard, Sarah's dreams of opening her own midwifery practice in Brisbane don't seem so impossible. Certainly not as impossible as her daydreams about the ship doctor's son, who only seems to have eyes for her friend.
But something else is lurking on the ship: a disease that has the power to take down even the strongest man and is about to rip through the ship like wildfire, leaving only devastation in its path. As caring for patients stretches Sarah and Bridie to their absolute limit, thoughts of the future are rapidly eclipsed by their determination to survive. If only they can make it to Australia with their lives and loves intact ...
Inspired by true events, this is a meticulously researched, eye-opening, heart-breaking, soul-warming story of survival, love and grit for readers of Darry Fraser, Alison Stuart and Tea Cooper.
'A poignant story of love and loss and the triumph of the human spirit over adversity that will tug at your heart and have you reaching for the tissues...' - Alison Stuart, author of The Goldminer's Sister.