Sea Change

Katherine Summerbee, the spirited heroine of this engaging historical romance by the author of the well-received Passage Home , has been brought up on a boat by her gruff father with no luxuries and little love. She meets handsome, courageous Matthew Oliver, an Englishman who is smuggling Confederate gold out of Civil War-torn New Orleans on the eve of the Yankee occupation. A tumultuous night ends in lust, a forced marriage and Matthew's quick departure. When Kate travels to England to find her husband, however, she discovers that he is actually the owner of a huge shipping concern, that they were not legally married and that he has a new wife. But her fate is irrevocably intertwined with that of Matthew and his family, and she is soon firmly lodged in the middle of a bitter battle of wills between Matthew and his father, the spirited, dashing and trustworthy Adam Gaunt. McLeay's narrative proceeds apace once Katherine reaches England, and her characters are fully dimensional. But at times their actions seem calculated only for McLeay's ease in forwarding the plot, and the conclusion disappoints. (Mar.)