ESCAPE BY SEA

The sheltered daughter of a wealthy merchant flees Roman forces and strikes out on her own in this invigorating historical adventure. Sara bih-Hanno and her father, a senator in the ancient Tunisian city of Carthage, have mere moments to absorb the news of her brother’s battlefield death before they must quit their home and the city via the Heron, a cargo ship. Skirmishing with other vessels, they gain several additions to their party, including a Roman soldier they take prisoner, who both intrigues and frustrates Sara. Lawrence imbues Sara’s first-person narration with intelligence and her character with a wry stubbornness, realistically portraying her fear and accompanying resolve to plow through it. Especially well imagined is the metacognition she possesses about her manipulation of the men to whom she must entrust her fate. A map and a glossary of nautical terms assist, though don’t completely succeed, in making sense of the at-times laboriously detailed combat scenes. Although the end is abrupt, it will also give readers cause to hope for a sequel. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)