Life changes radically for Nora Mandrake, heiress of a stately manor house near Liverpool, when she trades her inheritance for her brother's--the lush home and lands for the aging, rat-infested, nearly bankrupt shipping company that runs cargo between Britain and Mogador, Morocco.

It's 1892 for Mandrake, but it may as well be a medieval century for Morocco. The Sultan rules his country, religion rules his people, and power and money rule the world.

In this restrictive environment, Nora did not expect to fall in love with anyone. But her beautiful, exotic, Amizhigen (Berber) minder and mentor, Nawja, did not expect anything less.

But when the business falters, Hugh, Nora's brother, decides she must begin to take on the occasional, well-paying passenger who will opt for the inconvenience of a cargo ship to ensure the safety of their being. When Hugh finds a passenger for Nora's next trip to Mogador, both Captain and passenger reluctantly begin a voyage that promises to nearly sink the ship.

And thats a pity because the lovely Lady Tattersall only wonders if she'll ever find someone to love; getting seasick was not on her list of things to do to achieve that exalted state! Then again, Nora didn't expect to have to practically relinquish her private quarters to the somewhat spoiled, overly curious, stunningly pretty Lady Alice Tattersall.

This could be a most prosperous journey for Mandrake Marine Ltd. or a most expensive mistake for Captain Nora Mandrake. It will surely change the lives of Alice Tattersall and Najwa Khadawi, two women who realize too late that Mandrake is more real than fiction, more unenlightened than unfeeling and more desirable than maddening. Maybe. Usually.