Quotes From "On Starlit Seas" By Sara Sheridan

He noticed that he felt calmer now she was here, still in that grey dress with her dowdy hat, the air around her redolent with orchid oil. Perhaps all women in England had this effect. Perhaps they all smelled of flowers and exuded a calm and measured purpose. He couldn’t remember. Sara Sheridan

There was something indomitable about Maria — like Britannia. He’d heard that she kept her head during a Chilean earthquake the year before when men of greater age and experience had panicked. Afterwards she was discovered calmly taking notes, recording the way the land hand risen, for publication, she said. Sara Sheridan

Over the drop, a luminous pond lay below them like a pale magic lantern. It was as if the moon had plummeted into the water and smashed open. Engulfed in darkness, with only a scatter of stars above, the place felt like a bright secret — something ancient and precious. Sara Sheridan

Maria didn’t fear the sea but, as taught by her father, she respected its power. In her experience the ocean had no intent to drown travellers. Sara Sheridan

A flock of small birds took off from the wall of the fort. They moved like a length of dark silk caught by the breeze as they headed out to sea. Behind them, the sky was the colour of forget-me-nots. The sun blazed. Sara Sheridan

A vision of the little house in Soho flickered across his mind’s eye, his mother at a desk, writing in her journal, with hazy sunlight streaming through the morning windows. The woman inhabited a world he had once thought his own — a world of publishers and reliable suppliers. A London that was confident and competent amid its grey, puddle-strewn streets. Sara Sheridan

I pride myself on making my own decisions, sir, " she said. "I do not welcome gentlemen making them for me. Sara Sheridan

The jungle is alive. It’s dangerous as a living nightmare and brimful of hostility. Sara Sheridan

The moon was low but not full. The men set out along the dock in conversation. As they dropped onto the dark beach, Simmons declared, ‘There can be no better place in the world than this.’ Henderson had to agree. The beach was beautiful. The stars lit the sand and balmy air rode in as the waves washed up on paradise Sara Sheridan

It had occurred to her many times that on board it didn’t matter where you were coming from or where you were heading. Each voyage had its own charisma. Like writing a book — word by word — or crossing a country — step by step — each minute had to be lived moment by moment. Sara Sheridan

It was as if she was a dream, like London, which he could not entirely grasp and of which he was not worthy. He wanted to be part of it but had forgotten how. It seemed extraordinary and strange that this paragon among women had condescended to travel on his ship. In fact, she’d insisted upon it. Her presence was at once otherworldly and familiar, none of which explained why his brain ceased to function when he was in her company. Sara Sheridan

The smell of roasting meat rose from the street stalls in a sizzle and a fiddle player begged for coin as he rasped a haunting melody. Life could not be more perfect. Sara Sheridan

The daily chocolate left Will in high spirits, so that some days he believed he could wheel with the gulls that fished the foaming water close to shore. Now that he felt so free, it came to him that the corner of England, which up till now had been his whole universe, was in fact only a scrap of a boundless realm. Sara Sheridan

A journey is an achievement, Maria, just as much as a mathematical proof. Sara Sheridan

She enjoyed the sights and sounds of the dockside — ports were places of freedom. Sara Sheridan

Her eyes betrayed no shock at the sights of the quay as they unfolded — not the sweating deckhands, the prostitutes crowding the ship, the hubbub of stalls, including one where three slaves were for sale, their ankles manacled. She might as well have been walking through a country garden as she moved inexorably away from the water. Sara Sheridan

It often horrified the English community that she spent her time with local farmers and horse traders, eccentrics and mystics, but she valued expertise over convention and had long believed if you were going to make discoveries in the world you must first quit your Englishness and open your eyes. Sara Sheridan

Today is the anniversary of my husband’s death, " Maria announced. It was a dramatic statement, but the occasion seemed to demand it. "And I am going to leave. Sara Sheridan

There was something about Maria Graham that you could believe in — a slice of home. If not unique in her travelling, she was at least extraordinary. Sara Sheridan