Interconnecting the historical and the personal, the public and the private, this is a moving, absorbing story that probes the imbalance of human relationships, whether it be in the press gangs forcing young men to fight or the feelings of one individual for another. Life in an English seaside town in the 1790s is harsh, and ‘captious, capricious’ Sylvia has a dilemma when the dashing harpooner to whom she is secretly engaged disappears, and her dull cousin Philip (who has more information about his rival than he lets on) offers her love and security. Philip is not the only one afflicted with unrequited feelings, and as the ‘ceaseless waves’ lap against the shore we are drawn right into the heart of personal choices and their motivation. Alongside the accuracy of its historical backdrop, this is a character-driven novel, and Gaskell’s characters shine as brightly here as in North and South.