Despite a sensual curiosity whose strength is matched only by its innocent joy, the shy Rebecca actually leads a very sheltered life upon the quiet estate of her parents in the idyllic countryside of Elizabethan England. When her sweetly torrid relationship with a neighbor girl is discovered, however, the transgressing young blonde suddenly is cast out into a wicked world that for her predilections has neither tolerance nor mercy. Terrified and alone, Rebecca can only run sobbing from the cruel whip of her lover's father, whose face burns red with his self-righteous anger, and with the secret fires of his aroused appetites as well. The golden-haired waif finds friendship and danger alike on the perilous journey from the wild Gypsy-haunted forests to the back alleys of brawling, seedy London. Through it all Rebecca must follow her heart--and her hungers--until at last she can find the contentment she lacks. When she is swept away by a commanding older redheaded woman she knows only as "Captain," she believes she finally has found her place in the world. Yet as alluring as the notion is of striking back at the male swaggerers who rule the complacent world, Rebecca comes to realize that the swift buccaneer *Sappho* is not quite the feminine paradise she believed it to be... For a free sample, click here http://oliviamravensworth.weebly.com/samples.html.