First published 1993
Maria Graham boards HMS Doris in August 1821, bound for the turbulent coasts of Brazil with her husband Captain Thomas Graham. As Thomas works to secure British interests along these unreliable shores, Maria documents their extraordinary journey in her private journal. She witnesses violent storms at sea and earthquakes on land. She undertakes dangerous horseback expeditions through unfamiliar terrain. Revolution swirls around her as Brazil and Chile fight to break free from Portuguese and Spanish rule. Maria encounters the key figures driving this independence movement, from patriotic Brazilian rebels to displaced Portuguese aristocrats and fellow English expatriates living abroad. Disease and death shadow her travels, yet she maintains her meticulous observations of this pivotal moment in South American history. Her journal captures both the intimate details of her personal experience and the sweeping political transformation reshaping two nations. Through Maria's eyes, readers experience the raw beauty and chaos of the New World during the crucial decade before Darwin would arrive aboard the Beagle to document its natural wonders.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, historical-figures
Setting: Brazil, Chile, HMS Doris
Period: 1821
187 pages · Hardcover · Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd