Under the Southern Cross

A change of route puts twenty-year-old Blanche aboard the San Miguel, sailing from San Francisco toward New York by way of Panama. Accompanying her friend Mrs. Steele, who has been advised to travel by sea for her health, she meets Baron de Bach just before departure. His international upbringing and polished attentions promise lively company, while Blanche's quick replies give the voyage a distinctly personal voice.

Elizabeth Robins builds this novel around ocean travel, courtship and a young woman's confidence in her own judgment. Conversations on deck and in the dining room bring out competing expectations of how women should behave. When the Baron suggests that American women need a man to govern them, Blanche answers with open resistance. Her care for Mrs. Steele also gives these exchanges a practical setting. Readers interested in outspoken narrators and the social rules of travel will find humor, friction and close observation in this shipboard story.