A Captain for Laura Rose

A Captain for Laura Rose
Stephanie Grace Whitson
(Faith Words)
ISBN: 978-1455529056
March 2014/336 pages/$15.00
Laura Rose White's late father taught her everything he knew about piloting a Missouri River steamboat. He even named their boat after her. Despite that, it seems that Laura will forever be a "cub pilot" to her brother Joe, because in 1867, a female riverboat captain is unheard of. That is, until tragedy strikes and Laura must make the two month journey from St. Louis to Fort Benton and back in order to save her family's legacy, her home, and the only life she's ever known.

The only way for her to overcome the nearly insurmountable odds is with the help of her brother's disreputable friend Finn MacKnight, a skilled pilot with a terrible reputation. Laura loathes having to accept MacKnight as her co-pilot, especially when she learns she must also provide passage for his two sisters. Straight-laced Fiona has a fear of water, and unpredictable Adele seems much too comfortable with the idea of life in the rough and tumble environment of the untamed river and the men who ply it. Though they are thrown together by necessity, this historic journey may lead Laura and the MacKnights to far more than they ever expected.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephanie Grace Whitson is the author of over 20 inspirational novels and two works of nonfiction. When she isn't writing, speaking, or trying to keep up with her five grown children and perfect grandchildren, Stephanie loves to take long distance rides aboard her Honda Magna motorcycle named Kitty. Her church and the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, take up the rest of her free time. She received her Master of Arts degree in history in the spring of 2012. Her passionate interests in pioneer women's history, antique quilts, and French, Italian, and Hawaiian language and culture provide endless story-telling possibilities.

MY THOUGHTS

A Captain for Laura Rose provides a new and fresh angle to the theme of a woman resisting societal expectations and striving to make her way in a male-dominated profession. Both the title and the story play cleverly on the fact that the young woman and the steamboat share the same name. Whitson has created an eclectic array of characters, filling this story with life and color, from spunky yet tenderhearted Laura Rose to the reputed reprobate Finn and his vastly different sisters, prudish Fiona and capricious Adele--as well as the crew and those they encounter on their journey. Love and loss, choices and consequences, grace and forgiveness and new beginnings flow through this story as surely as the river runs its course.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book from Faith Words/Hachette Book Group as part of a blog tour. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”