South of Sofala

Thirty-one survivors, a shattered hull, and a stretch of African coast that appears on no Portuguese chart. Gaspar Taveira, ship's carpenter, can build a boat from wreckage and ironwood — but he cannot build trust between a vain captain, a mutinous boatswain, and the village whose chief keeps them all alive. With slave traders sailing south on the monsoon and a deadline no one can move, one carpenter's choices will decide who lives.