Historical Fiction

TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER\ \ If sailor tales to sailor tunes,\ Storm and adventure, heat and cold,\ If schooners, islands, and maroons,\ And buccaneers, and buried gold,\ And all the old romance, retold\ Exactly in the ancient way,\ Can please, as me they pleased of old,\ The wiser youngsters of today:\ \ --So be it, and fall on! If not,\ If studious youth no longer crave,\ His ancient appetites forgot,\ Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,\ Or Cooper of the wood and wave:\ So be it, also! And may I\ And all my pirates share the grave\ Where these and their creations lie!

In 13th century China, merchant's daughter Li Mei disguises herself as a man to join her father's caravan along the Silk Road. Her journey takes her from the Forbidden City to the markets of Constantinople, where she must navigate political intrigue, dangerous bandits, and her own growing feelings for a fellow traveler who doesn't know her secret.