The Rathbones by Janice Clark

The Rathbones are whalers.  No more needs to be said, they are made for whaling, and whaling is their life.  The patriarch, Moses, can sense a whale swimming deep.  He mans his ships with his own sons, taking wife and wife to fill his boats.  No one can touch the skill of the Rathbones, and it brings them wealth.

But years go by and the world turns, changing.  The whales are gone, and the Rathbones have dwindled.  Was it because the whales swam elsewhere?  Was it because the Rathbone men brought the golden sisters of the Starks to live in their mansion, and loving them so much, ignored the sea?  Was it because they abandoned the old ways?

Now, Mercy Rathbone is the only one left, she and her mother who waits endlessly for her father.  She has an uncle, Mordecai who lives in the attic, studying ancient tomes and learning the lore of sailing.  When a night of secrets breaks open, Mordecai and Mercy flee the Rathbone mansion, to sail in search of her father and to discover the truth of their family heritage.

Janice Clark has written a haunting, mystical, lilting novel of the whaling era and the men and women who made up a way of life.  The characters are original and the reader won't forget them.  As Mercy and Mordecai sail in search of their family's secrets, the reader is drawn along with them, eager to hear more about this family and how it lived.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction, and those who would learn about a way of life now extinct.