The Chauffeur and the Chaperon

Nell Van Buren and her step-sister Phyllis are flatmates in Edwardian London, scraping by on forty pounds a year in Clapham, when news arrives that a family friend has left them a motor-boat in Holland. What begins as a practical solution to their financial woes becomes an impulsive adventure across the North Sea, filled with charming misunderstandings, new acquaintances, and the gentle clash between Nell's devil-may-care attitude and Phyllis's steadfast English principles. Nell narrates with a wry, self-aware wit that makes even a questionable bathroom arrangement feel like comic gold. This is early twentieth-century adventure at its most delightful: two young women navigating the world on their own terms, armed with nerve and a secondhand motor-boat.