Hurricane Island

A discontented physician abandons his grim practice in London's East End for the salt and danger of the open sea. When Dr. Richard Phillimore witnesses a man plunge from a luxury yacht into dark waters, he dives in without thinking, and the rescue earns him passage aboard the Sea Queen. But the yacht carries more than wealthy passengers. A prince travels in disguise, and one of the crew has noticed. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game on the high seas: a scheme to steal royal identity, kidnap a throne, and claim a fortune. Phillimore must choose between the safe observer's role and the man who acts. Published when adventure fiction reigned, Hurricane Island captures a particular Victorian anxiety about identity itself, about what happens when a man can simply become someone else. It's for readers who want their adventures with a side of existential unease, who prefer their seas stormy and their stakes personal.