Evelyn Forbes

Evelyn Forbes grew up on an English estate where daughters were expected to be docile, silent, and married off advantageously. High-society gossip bored her to tears. Instead of embroidering cushions, she slipped away to her father's private library, burying herself in apothecary compendiums and Latin treatises on West Indian flora. By the time she was twenty, Evelyn understood colonial botanicals far better than any tutor her family had hired.

Two years ago, she sheared her hair, pulled on salt-stained sailor's trousers, and signed aboard the brig Pelican under the name Evan Crawford. The rough crew chuckles at the frail lad who speaks like an Oxford scholar and constantly trips over tangled rigging. Captain Hartley values cheap labor, while old Doctor Mock grumbles whenever the boy noses around his jars of dried roots and tinctures.

Evelyn's plan is simple: reach the uninhabited islands of the archipelago and collect rare medicinal plants. She seeks an elusive cure for swamp fever—something that can save lives and earn her an undeniable place in scientific journals that bar women at the door.

Guarded and slightly dry, Evelyn deflects idle small talk with wry humor. Yet the moment botany is mentioned, her reserve dissolves into fierce passion. She spots weaknesses easily and detests pity above all else.