YA? my mom named me after a book character and can't remember the name of the book

[Abigail]

my mom named me after a girl from a book that she read when she was a teenager and now she cant remember the name of the book. she told me it was about a girl named Abigail who's mom dies and the dad is left to raise the girl by himself and he takes her on his ship that he owns. ( sorry for the vague description that's all she remembers)
my mom was born in 1972 so the book had to have been published before the mid 1980's. Thanks so much

[Rainbowheart]

Abigail?

It's not YA, and I'm not sure if '88 is too late. But the MC loses her mom at age 10 and is raised on her dad's whaling ship.

[Abigail]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Abigail?

It's not YA, and I'm not sure if '88 is too late. But the MC loses her mom at age 10 and is raised on her dad's whaling ship."

is the name of the book the MC? also what is the authors name? ill look it up thanks so much!

[Rosa]

Just click on the link, Abigail.

[Abigail]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Abigail?

What is the MC??
but my mom thinks that this book might be it but she has to read part of it tho thanks again

[Rainbowheart]

Abigail is the MC, and the author is Joan Druett.

Hope that's it! Let us know either way once your mom's had a chance to read it. :)

[Lyly]

MC means main character btw

[bookel]

Publisher's Weekly review for Abigail by Druett. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780...
Check your public library for a copy.
Published 1988.

[Capn]

Maybe something here will jog her memory? :) From OpenLibrary (https://archive.org/details/abigail00...). It's searchable, so if your mom can remember one specific scene or character, you might be able to pinpoint it by keyword search.

Page n1

Born in nineteenth-century New Zealand to an adventurous mother and a seafaring father who is captain of the whaler Erasmus, young Abigail Sherman grows up yearning more for ships and the sea than for beaux and proper deportment. But her mother's tragic death and her father's business reversals result in her being shipped off to New Bedford to live under the puritanical restraints of relatives she loathes.

Page n1

Lonely for the sea, New Zealand, and her father, Abigail is puzzled when he sends her not only the title to the Erasmus but also a cryptic riddle which, deciphered, is said to contain the key to a vast fortune. When reports of her father's violent murder reach New Bedford, Abigail vows to escape the suffocating strictures of Massachusetts, to make the long, arduous voyage back to New Zealand, and to claim both the mysterious inheritance and her beloved Erasmus.

Page n1

It will be an odyssey more tempestuous than even she can imagine, rife with treachery, ambush, and betrayal. Putting herself repeatedly in jeopardy, Abigail will cross paths with gamblers, pirates, fortune hunters, false allies, menacing enemies— and, above all, with the black-haired, blue-eyed whaling master Seth Morgan, whose lust for freedom is as passionate as her own.

for some examples of covers

[Kris]

Note: Abigail (OP, original poster) was last active on the site in July 2022.