The year is 1914. Rosina, a widow, boards a liner for Europe with nothing but a fierce vow: she will never marry again. For too long, society has treated women like property to be bequeathed or remarried. Rosina intends to be free. But freedom, it turns out, is complicated. On the ship, she encounters Von Ibn, a man whose depth and artistic passion unsettle her carefully constructed certainties. Jack and Carter, fellow passengers who clearly believe they know what's best for a woman alone, watch her with concern that feels more like possession. Rosina begins to wonder whether independence is truly hers if it was born only from reaction to others' expectations. Anne Warner wrote this novel over a century ago, and it still burns with relevance. It's a book about the hardest question a woman can ask: do I want something, or do I just not want what I'm told to want?
