The Broken Ship

In the turbulent aftermath of the Black Death, England's great trading houses stand on uncertain ground. Old alliances are failing, rivalries are hardening, and survival depends as much on judgement as on wealth.

When the head of the House of Rooke is lost at sea, the future of the family's fortunes rests on those left behind. Matthew Rooke must step into a role for which he has not been prepared, navigating not only the demands of trade but the quiet pressures of men who would see the House diminished or broken. At his side, his sister, Alice Rooke begins to understand that the world she has inherited is more dangerous - and more complex - than she had ever imagined.

From the quays of King's Lynn to the counting houses of the Hanseatic League, The Broken Ship follows a family drawn into a struggle for continuity in a world where reputation, loyalty and survival are constantly at stake.

Rich in historical detail and grounded in the realities of fourteenth-century trade and society, this opening novel in the Parliament of Rookes sequence explores the fragile balance between inheritance and ambition - and the cost of holding a house together when everything around it is beginning to shift.