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Robert C. Leslie (1826-1901) was an artist and writer who, at an early age fell in love with the sea, the sea of Sail, not of Steam. He describes the progression of this love from wave to wave and boat to boat. Leslie sailed during the Great Age of Sail before Industrialism had taken possession of Britain. <BR><BR> Leslie comments on the early days of single-handed small boat sailing:<br /> "When I first began boating in the early forties [1840s], what is now called single-handed cruising was almost unknown among amateurs....people had a vague dread of it. Much of this has passed away, and hundreds of amateur boatmen, and even ladies, are now as much at home and really safer in a sailing-boat than they would be on the back of a hunter or bicycle."<BR><BR> Leslie writes of one of his favorite cruising grounds about 1850: "No railway in my time came within fifteen miles of Sidmouth, and the few enterprising visitors who reached there by coach from Exeter called it dull. It was certainly not a gay place, but most of those who resided there in that happy valley did so rather with a view to quiet, and among them it was rare to find any one disposed to tamper with the grave routine of country life there." <BR><BR> A Waterbiography captures a Lost Age. (Summary by Peter Kelleher)

2Sailor's Lass

By Emma Leslie

On a dark and story night, the Coombers find a little girl. Who is she? - Summary by EstherbenSimonides<br /><br />Proof Listening provided by Fiddlesticks and Tawnya Roy

Glaucia and her brother Laon have been sold into slavery to pay their father's debts. Set in 1st Century Rome and Athens, this story follows the siblings' quest to find each other and regain their freedom. Along the way, they find clues about the mysterious disappearance of their mother, are introduced to 'the religion for slaves' (Christianity) and encounter such Biblical characters as Paul and Damaris. (Summary by LuellaMargaret)

Set in the 17th Century, this book tells of the backdrop to the settlement of New England in the American Colonies: the struggles of the Church of England, and the life of Sir Harry Vane the Younger. Author Emma Leslie uses charming and simple historical fiction to acquaint her readers with Church History, and to make these important times accessible to any age. (Summary by LuellaMargaret)