Mary Gaunt's adventurous solo journeys to West Africa and China provided material for, and a degree of realism to, the novels and short stories with which she supported herself. Her writing was also a means of asserting her independence in her relationships with her brothers Guy and Ernest, both of whom rose to the rank of admiral in the Royal Navy. Ernest Gaunt served in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1898-1899, was severely wounded in Somalia in 1903 while leading a landing party to avenge the death of an Italian naval officer, and during World War I commanded the First Battle Squadron of the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland. Guy Gaunt served in the Philippines and China, took command of the British consulate at Apia in Samoa during a rebel attack, served on the battleship Vengeance in China during the Russo-Japanese War, and was British naval...