Review: Home is the Sailor

Home is the Sailor by Lillian Marek
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Captain Will Dormer was invalided out of the Navy after the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 after the loss of one eye and one leg. Whilst recuperating in hospital he is advised that his father and two elder brothers have died in a drunken carriage ride when their carriage went over a cliff near the family estate. Will was sent to the Navy after his mother's death when he was only ten so he feels no great sorrow for the death of his family. What he finds inconvenient is inheriting the title of Viscount Claremont and the estate of Belmond Park, his brother's widow, her mother, and his cousin Frederick who bullied him mercilessly as a child.

Will is wallowing in self-pity, no job, responsibilities that he did not want, worried that everyone finds him grotesque etc. Then he receives a letter from Captain Robert Garland, his first commanding officer and father-figure asking him to visit. When he arrives, Will discovers his mentor is dying, leaving a sister and daughter. Captain Garland has lost practically all his money after investing in two cargo ships which both sank, and asks Will to look after Maria and his widowed sister, Lady Sophia Pellew. Initially Will intends to provide the ladies with money, but as he spends time with the Captain, he realises that Maria has skills in house management and dealing with people that he lacks and he decides to offer her a marriage of convenience, he needs a wife and heir and she doesn't seem to find his scars abhorrent, and she needs security.

Living in Portsmouth and having a sailor for a father, Maria is used to seeing men with injuries, she doesn't find them ugly, she still finds Will devastatingly attractive, but she worries that as a woman of (very) humble birth she will not fit in with Will's friends and family.

When they return to Belmond Park as husband and wife they find a house that has been neglected, family residents who resent and dislike them, surly servants, and wary tenants. Together they tackle the issues, but it seems someone is taking dislike to the next level.

I read a review of this book on Dear Author several months ago (eek July 2024) and kept it in my inbox (hey, I'm old I get email notifications of reviews) because I loved the sound of an intelligent historical firmly entrenched in accurate historical detail with a slow burn romance and a solid plot. I finally got around to treating myself and I was not disappointed.

Highly recommended and I will look out for other books by this author.

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