Not Yet Drown'd Book

A mysterious parcel propels a young Scottish widow on a perilous quest to the far side of the world.

Mary Margaret Benson - Library Journal

Kingman's lyric, romantic first novel is set against the exotic backdrop of pre-Victorian Scotland, Flanders, South Africa, and India. Young Catherine MacDonald is grieving the death not only of her husband but also of her twin brother, Sandy. Then she receives a mysterious package from her twin, reportedly drowned in India's monsoon floods of 1821, that happens to include sheet music for a song retitled "Not Yet Drown'd" and decides to sail out to India to discover the meaning of this final message. Catherine travels with two servants, a Hindu widow and a runaway American slave, and her young, mute stepdaughter. Sandy's clues lead them through trails of opium traders, tea traders, botanists, inventors, and musicians. This is a mystery as much as a love story-or rather several love stories; Kingman explores the interracial and interreligious relationships of her four strong women characters and those around them. Kingman's exacting historical knowledge of the era comes through in her use of actual people and events, from the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822 to the Chinese tea monopoly of the East India Trading Company. Kingman lives in northern California, where she plays bagpipes and raises and grows tea. Highly recommended for all public library collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ5/1/07.]