On an old slaving ship named the Ibis, fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians and Westerners. The motley crew of sailors, coolies, and convicts includes a bankrupt Raja, a Chinese Opium addict, a lissom French runaway and a mulatto freedman from Baltimore. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers.
Maggie vowed to never marry a man who can’t laugh or dance, but when she and the dull new doctor in town, Everett Dulanis, wind up spending the night together in an abandoned dugout house, all that changes. Her father is the best man and his shotgun is the bridesmaid at the wedding where a union has been made, but there’s certainly no unity. Everett was engaged to Carolina Prescott, a southern lady in...