Dangerous Crossing

Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

Published by Black Swan

August 2017

England, September 1939
Lily Shepherd boards a cruise liner for a new life in Australia and is plunged into a world of cocktails, jazz and glamorous friends. But as the sun beats down, poisonous secrets begin to surface. Suddenly Lily finds herself trapped with nowhere to go ...

Australia, six-weeks later
The world is at war, the cruise liner docks, and a beautiful young woman is escorted onto dry land in handcuffs.

What has she done?

This is the first historical novel by author Tammy Cohen, writing under the pseudonym of Rachel Rhys and after this stunning debut, it surely won't be her last.  The book begins with a glamourous woman being escorted off of the ship Orontes after sailing from England to Australia during the summer of 1939.  We, the reader, know that a crime has been committed on board the ship but we do not know the name of the victim, nor the identity of the woman charged with murder.  Our central character is a young woman named Lily Shepherd, sailing for a new life in domestic service after a failed relationship.  On board she soon finds herself in the company of a dazzling pair of first class passengers, the Campbells.  Max and Eliza are on a second honeymoon and their flamboyant ways are soon the talk of the ship.  Lily's berth companions soon fade into the background as she begins to spend more and more time upstairs on the boat, accompanied by siblings Helena and Edward Fletcher.

As talk of an impeding war carries across the ship, can living in such close proximity to a group of strangers, and foreigners at that, ever really be a good thing?  One thing is certain though, sailing on the Orontes is to become a dangerous crossing for some.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x