JoAnn Wendt

JoAnn Wendt wrote historical romance informed by travel, formal study, and an interest in characters forced to negotiate unfamiliar places. Beyond the Savage Sea was published by Warner Books in 1990 and is set largely in Barbados. Edwinna Crawford faces the possible loss of a plantation unless she marries quickly, while Drake Steel is a condemned pirate offered an unexpected bargain. Their marriage of convenience develops amid questions of inheritance, reputation, and trust. Wendt was raised in Wisconsin, earned degrees from the University of Maryland and Wisconsin State University, and moved frequently as part of an Air Force family. Her novels also include Beyond Surrender, Beyond the Dawn, and The Golden Dove. Beyond the Savage Sea belongs to that historical line, using a Caribbean setting and unequal initial circumstances to test how each protagonist judges the other's courage. The book combines period adventure with the gradual revision of assumptions made under extreme pressure.