Anne Dodge, the only daughter of an old-money New England family, is not your typical blue-blooded 1930s gal. Not only is she half Portuguese, she's terrible in the kitchen and doesn't have the slightest interest in marrying the besotted son of a prominent family.
In Julie Drew's debut novel, set in Rhode Island in 1934, Anne is in love with one thing--building boats. It's so unladylike that her controlling, WASP father refuses even to discuss it with her, in the same way that he is mum on the subject of what happened to Anne's Portuguese mother, telling her only that she abandoned them when Anne was born. So Anne trudges along in her life, sneaking off to build her beloved boats and dreading the time when she'll have to give up her passion and surrender to her duty as a wife.
Unexpectedly, several events rock Anne's insular world. First, she stumbles upon a dead body. Next, her feisty half-sister, Maria Cristina, who's been raised by the Portuguese side of the family, comes to live with her, unleashing a love and determination in Anne that gives her the impetus to claim her independence. And Maria Cristina's arrival leads to the revealing of long-hidden truths about Anne's mother and father.
Drew's subplot regarding labor unions and a strike at the town mill seems a bit out of place here, but it introduces the powerful and debonair Oliver Fielding who awakens a desire in Anne that changes her life, irrevocably, as the tale sails into its surprising conclusion. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend