In Julie Gerstenblatt’s historical fiction novel, The Stargazer of Nantucket, eighteen-year-old Winifred “Winnie” Starbuck dreams of leaving Massachusetts behind to join her parents on an epic merchant voyage. Her parents, Peter and Nell Starbuck, are highly renowned trade captains who command the titular Stargazer, a top-of-the-line clipper ship.
In 1851, they set out on a final global trading expedition meant to break world speed records, sailing from Nantucket Island around Cape Horn to bustling San Francisco during the gold rush, before crossing the Pacific Ocean to the fabled ports of China. Despite being forbidden from joining due to a 1838 traumatic incident on the Shooting Star, a determined Winnie stows away on the Stargazer. Aboard, she works grueling shifts, navigates high society among passengers, and befriends a quick-witted cabin boy named Chin while battling harsh ocean elements. As they approach Canton, Winnie discovers a hidden family secret explaining her parents’ protective fears, while her parents’ marriage faces its own internal strains, pushing Winnie to confront her family’s past and chart her own future.