Vaiti of the Islands

A young woman of mixed heritage who commands a graceful schooner seeks wealth and social standing while coping with her dissipated father and a shrewd trading firm. Her ambitions drive a sequence of island episodes — a race for a lagoon, shipboard intrigues, marooning, supernatural encounters with witch-doctors, violent clashes, and rival claims to authority — as commerce, local custom, and personal loyalty intersect. The narrative traces daring adventures and schemes that test loyalties and resourcefulness while charting the protagonist's struggle to secure independence and influence between island life and outside interests.