England, 1795 ~ A celebrated naval hero. A fractured marriage. A forbidden love that could destroy everything.

In the early days of England's war against Revolutionary France, Captain Edward Trewin of the British Royal Navy is one of the nation's most successful frigate commanders, but his private life is falling apart. His wife Julia, who bitterly resented his eagerness to sail to war, has not answered any of his letters for more than a year. Dispirited, Edward sails his battle-scarred ship directly for the dockyard in Portsmouth, bypassing his home in Cornwall.

He faces a lonely existence ashore for months on end while the frigate Palladium is made ready for service, but a spontaneous invitation results in an unexpected challenge—temptation. As a houseguest of his former commanding officer, Edward finds himself gradually drawn to his host's daughter, Caroline—kind, perceptive, and offering the warmth he has been starved of. What transpires in Portsmouth changes everything.

He may be a "hero for the nation," but now he is all at sea on dry land. How will Edward and two very different yet remarkable women resolve this tangle of love, honor, and duty?

Told not only from Edward's perspective, but Caroline's and Julia's as well, Of Ships and Sealing Wax is the richly detailed story of a returning hero's emotional journey and the two compelling women who lay claim to his heart.

"Well executed and briskly paced, and the erotic tension … is impressively palpable. Edward is a delicately drawn protagonist—a sailor naturally constituted for war, he is also surprisingly nuanced and sensitive, and these contradictory inclinations are made entirely plausible by the author. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read—deeply thoughtful and dramatically immersive… genuinely romantic as well as psychologically sophisticated." — Kirkus Reviews