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Secret of the Sands
Sara Sheridan
She was a slave. He was her master. Both of them long to be free…1833 – The British Navy are conducting a survey of the Arabian Peninsula where slavery is as rife as ever despite being abolition. Zena, a headstrong and determined young Abyssinian beauty has been torn from her remote village, subjected to a tortuous journey and is now being offered for sale in the market of Muscat.Lieutenant James Wellstead is determined that his time aboard HMS Palinurus will be the conduit to fame and fortune. However, all his plans are thrown into disarray when two of his fellow officers go missing while gathering intelligence in the desert.By an unexpected twist of fate – Zena finds herself the property of Wellstead, now on a daring rescue mission into forbidding territory. Master and slave are drawn ever closer, but as danger faces them at every turn, they must endure heartache and uncertainty – neither of them knowing what fortune awaits them as they make their hazardous way through the shifting sands.A rich and epic novel that will appeal to fans of The Pirate's Daughter and East of the Sun.
SARA SHERIDAN
Secret of the Sands
Copyright (#ulink_56b5508a-8d05-5bda-87f4-d3795325b7fd)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 77–85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2011
Copyright © Sara Sheridan 2011
Sara Sheridan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9781847561992
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2011 ISBN: 9780007352524
Version: 2014-07-08
Author’s note about language (#ulink_b7d8a1ec-c30d-55a2-92d8-cb29e1c82332)
I do not speak Arabic and in any case spelling Arabic words with English letters spawns a wide variety of possible combinations that were not standardised until well after Wellsted’s day. I copied Arabic words from contemporary manuscripts and hope that the resulting spelling does not prove too confusing for those whose knowledge of the language is greater than mine.
Map (#ulink_bf84dd70-bd3b-59ef-809b-42a21d825b93)
Contents
Cover (#uacfae2dc-5a9d-5c04-aecc-bf5e4cb37de1)
Title Page (#u8d7cd9aa-9f78-5bee-a0ba-8907bad7ed54)
Copyright (#u4892c237-2cd0-5c6d-b0d0-b16579b51ea8)
Author’s note about language (#u8d4f5eb0-d2e4-557d-b0f8-95a9d70ccf5f)
Map (#u074ae61d-3d9a-53fe-85bf-f7a487588424)
Part One (#uc66c212c-899c-5047-87f3-b3c233e3c51e)
Chapter One (#u687e8247-6016-5bf4-ad20-702965594fac)
Chapter Two (#uda02e36a-a7f4-5f75-93fb-8129a899c64e)
Chapter Three (#u1ac7f8cf-037f-5881-b016-d255b3252b56)
Chapter Four (#uaa0c9457-da22-525e-8aa8-5edef90554b1)
Chapter Five (#u4e24a8e1-5de0-553f-bb05-1a19f4882150)
Chapter Six (#u81f008d7-2604-5076-a33b-496ddb90133b)
Chapter Seven (#ub4a0e6ab-6d3f-5c1f-a3cb-1d822ff1b3ab)
Chapter Eight (#u3eaeb0d8-f80b-5add-a3cd-621135e6a1f4)
Chapter Nine (#u9dfac70b-a96d-5f84-a21c-d10edf988aa7)
Chapter Ten (#u06fc20e2-d307-5e2b-bc72-27fb1e12c795)
Chapter Eleven (#ue3136be3-35c3-5345-8734-1448ad227cef)
Chapter Twelve (#u230f09eb-d826-505c-8821-725a26f884c4)
Chapter Thirteen (#u1b11298c-6224-5923-ba33-0593344ba1cf)
Chapter Fourteen (#ubab44137-c938-5626-a8f6-ac2161ee6e15)
Chapter Fifteen (#u9b1052ca-bfa3-5987-bbe8-620495257cde)
Chapter Sixteen (#u4602d6df-7e71-5d73-961f-b058a7582818)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Part Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Historical Note (#litres_trial_promo)
Questions for Reading Groups (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PART ONE (#ulink_c1e99d57-8912-550b-91e5-6a7c9a847314)
‘Thus in England, where law leaves men comparatively free, they are slaves to a grinding despotism of conventionalities, unknown in the land of tyrannical rule. This explains why many men, accustomed to live under despotic governments, feel fettered and enslaved in the so-called free countries.’
Sir Richard Francis Burton, 1821–1890
Great Arabian Explorer
Chapter One (#ulink_18971a1b-23d1-56e4-8a89-4697e4b4f7c9)
Fifty miles inland from the coast of Abyssinia, Tuesday, 11 June 1833
It is dark when they come, at about an hour before dawn. Far away in London, pretty housemaids in Marylebone are setting the fires while the more dissolute rakes make their way home through deserted streets now devoid of the night’s sport. The whores are all abed now as are the Honourable Directors of the East India Company, each to a man concerned that the French, despite being routed, surely have it in mind to capture Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi and unfurl England’s grip on its ruby-encrusted prize. In short order, William Wilberforce, hero of The Cause, will rise habitually early despite his failing health, dress in a sober jacket with dark breeches and, discreetly and behind the scenes, preach the rights of these men and women from thousands of miles away. He has been doing so with success, in and out of Parliament, for the best part of fifty years and he will not have too much longer to wait. But here in the village that makes no difference now.
