Diver’s Daughter: A Tudor Story

Eve Cartright is a young black girl growing up with her mum in London in the late 16th century. Life is tough, Eve is almost always hungry, and they always seem to be just one step away from gruesome poverty, despite her hard-working mum’s best efforts.

When Eve nearly drowns and her mum’s expert diving to save her is noted by George Symons, a man with links to the sunken ship the Mary Rose, could they be on a pathway to riches? George sends them on a mission to persuade African diver Jacque Francis to guide them to the treasure. But the road is full of danger and betrayal.

This is a thrilling tale, with the expertly described Tudor world brought to hideous, harsh life with the same verve as Patrice Lawrence’s award winning teen books Indigo Donut and Orangeboy. Although the story of Eve and her mother is fictional, there really was an African diver Jacque Francis in Tudor times, along with very many other people of colour living in Elizabethan times, despite the "white-washing" of history.

Voices is a thought-provoking series of stories based aiming to highlight the valuable and often overlooked contribution made by immigrants to Britain throughout history. Written by a range of highly regarded children’s authors, these tales bring different historical periods to life for a young audience.