Whaleman, sealer, adventurer and lover, Captain Joss fears no man and trusts no woman. His emotional isolation is rooted in the brutal world of seafaring, and tempered by haunting experiences of love and betrayal.
His story sweeps from England and the Arctic whale fishery to the South Pacific and the wild, lawless shores of pre-colonial New Zealand. In this turbulent land at the end of the earth, Joss hews for himself "a place to stand" and forms enduring alliances with Maori chiefs.
Enduring too, is his difficult relationship with the woman he makes his wife, a marriage which begins as a means to an end and ends by meaning much more to him than he ever imagined.
