The "Roaring Twenties". The luxury steampship Benjamin Franklin leaves Genoa and sets out on a trans-Atlantic voyage it has taken many times before. Things do not go to plan, however, when the ship is caught in a storm and seriously damaged. In all the confusion and panic, three passengers are left behind. A criminal, a detective who captured him and an heiress must face a journey far away from the regular trans-oceanic routes, into the heart of the treacherous Sargasso Sea - a journey that will change their lives forever.

The essays in this volume discuss the visible elements, such as clothing, jewellery, the opulence of the elite, fashion and styles, but they also inform the reader about the manner in which these were connected to political and social developments. The articles in this volume highlight important themes regarding the history of textiles, the shifting of trading and manufacturing centres, the professionalization of the various fields in the history of fashion, and the connection with the introduction and proliferation of steam-powered machines and later of electrical equipment. Clothes and garments are also part of the social and political transformations brought about by the multiple modernisations of the various Balkan societies. Fabrics, colours, threads, barrels and buttons, lace and jewellery are marvellous documents that bring to life details of the remote worlds of our ancestors, helping us understand the complex meanings of sartorial appearances. The Balkans and the Orient are regions that offer promising avenues of multidisciplinary research concerning clothes and fashion as indicators of social status and political change.

TWO WOMEN SEPARATED BY CENTURIES, THEIR LIVES DRAWN TOGETHER BY A BEAUTIFUL SILK DRESSTextiles historian Jo Baaker returns to the Dutch island where she was born, to investigate the provenance of a valuable seventeenth-century silk dress retrieved from a sunken shipwreck. Her research leads her to Anna Tesseltje, a poor Amsterdam laundress who served on the fringes of the Dutch court.But how did Anna come to possess such a precious dress? Jo is convinced the truth lies hidden between its folds, but as she gets closer to Anna's history, haunting details of her own past emerge.

RITA Award–Winning Author: All she remembers is feeling safe in his arms . . . Shipwrecked governess Claire Tilson wakes in Captain Lucien Roper’s arms—with amnesia! Her handsome rescuer believes she’s a member of the aristocracy he detests, yet he risks all to see her “home,” where she learns she’s betrothed to a wealthy stranger. Claire is convinced she doesn’t belong here—and Lucien is the only man she trusts to uncover her past and claim her future . . . “A bit of danger enters the story, adding a touch of suspense to an already delightful read.” —Huntress Reviews