Having read the reviews AFTER I finished it, I am left wondering why I did not rate it higher. It was well-written, I like historical fiction (and this was an area I did not know already) and there were some interesting characters, several of whom narrated all the chapters of the book. One of the annoying things for me was Doctor Potter's abbreviated style (and indeed the odd racial content of his 'book' within a book). The other was the contrived way a small Manx coastal ship suddenly takes off for the other side of the world without experience or even maps. However, I was intrigued enough with the tale to read through it quite rapidly.- and it did round off all the individual threads at the end!