Where It Begins: Newport, 1905

I've been sitting with a photograph of the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island, trying to imagine what a ten-year-old girl would have seen from those grounds in 1905.

Her name was Evelina Gleaves — Steena to anyone who actually knew her. Her father was a Naval officer stationed there. And she was, by every account I've found, already restless.

This is where the novel begins. Not with a battle or a society ball, but with a girl on a waterfront, watching ships.

I'll be writing about the research journey here — what I find in the archives, what my family remembers, and how all of it becomes story. If you want to follow along, sign up for the newsletter.