A story two decades in the making.
 

Sea Hawk began as an idea. A question, really: What is the cost of self-determination?
 

Stories of men who leave home to follow a calling are so familiar that we scarcely question the impulse. But what happens when a woman possesses the same grit and determination? What expectations must she confront? Whom is she allowed to disappoint? What does it cost her to claim a life of her own?
 

When I began Sea Hawk, those questions drew me toward a woman’s story. I wanted to understand the conflict between the life she had been taught to lead and the life she might choose. As women’s opportunities expanded, I wondered how much of that conflict remained unspoken.
 

Those questions became Laura Taylor Barrett—a wife and mother whose husband’s death leaves her facing more than grief. The future she expected is gone. The expectations placed upon her remain.
 

What might drive her to leave the familiar shores of home and take refuge on the sea? What would she carry with her? How much could she endure—and how would the voyage change what she believed about herself?
 

For twenty years, I followed those questions through Laura’s life. Sea Hawk is the story that grew from that experience. Laura is the name we give every woman who has ever asked those questions for herself. Through one woman’s voice, the novel explores what it means to act upon the answers—and live with the consequences.