Our Price: AUD$14.95 (USD$)* ISBN: 978-1-921456-21-3 Subject: Fiction/Children's/Historical Publication Date: May 2009

Synopsis
Charlotte sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Out on the water, well away from the smelter's giant chimneystacks that billowed smoke day and night, the air was fresh and salty...

Charlotte Martin loves the sea. As the daughter of the harbourmaster she knows every ship that comes and goes from the port of Wallaroo. Bored with her lessons at school, Charlotte instead yearns to join her brothers' rowing team. They allow her to secretly practise with them, but this was the 1880s, a time when girls were not allowed to row.

To add to her worries, the sinister Edgar Cudlip soon discovers their secret, and Charlotte and her friend Megan become entangled in a series of events that finds them both in trouble - up to their necks!

About The Author
Tricia Stringer grew up in South Australia on her family's Eyre Peninsula farm before moving to Adelaide for secondary and tertiary education. Since then she has married, raised three children and continued to live in rural South Australia.

She has worked as a teacher/librarian/information technology coordinator for many years and has also run a Post Office and bookshop with her husband. Besides her love of writing she enjoys travelling to diverse areas of Australia, bush camping, tangling with computers, reading a good book or walking on the beach hatching her next story.

Tricia is the author of Piskey Trouble and Boy of the Mines, both for younger readers. She has also written three books for adults, Changing Channels, River Magic and Due Date.

For more information please visit www.triciastringer.com.

From The Book
Charlotte sat absolutely still in the stern with her hand on the tiller, looking back at her brothers as they worked in perfect precision. This was the only place where she could tell them what to do. As the coxswain it was her job to not only steer the boat but to keep her brothers rowing together and to watch ahead for markers.

This morning she took in every detail, sketching the scene in her head. She didn't get the chance to go out in the boat with them often. Sketching was the next best thing to being there.

With a fourth man, there was no doubt that the Martin brothers would win the rowing race at the Wallaroo Regatta. How Charlotte wished it could be the Martin brothers and sister. In the coxswain's position she could steer the boat and shout encouragement as her brothers pulled on the oars, but in a regatta she wasn't even able to do that. How stupid it was that girls weren't allowed to row!