Sea Fever; From First Date to First Mate  is a love story, a modern escape fantasy and a funny, sharp, observant page-turner of a read.

She starts a dating agency, The ManBank, a dance troupe the Real Hot Bitches, finds love, has a baby and, despite suffering from seasickness, becomes the proud owner of a 40-foot yacht in Aruba.

Interspersed with hilarious Mrs Blacksmith’s tips such as ‘A Guide to Choosing an Alter Ego’  and ‘Positive Poverty- A User’s Guide’  Sea Fever tells the tale of the months of training and preparation, the long trip to the Caribbean island – “48 hours, six bags, five international flights, four body searches, three Bloody Marys, two dodgy taxi rides, and only one lost pillow” – and eventually the lifting of anchor.

Along the way we discover how far comedy dance moves can get you, a handsome bronze Colombian liberator, what pills to take when a bout of giardia strikes, and the right shorts to wear to get picked up by Panamanian policemen.

We learn what to do when you run aground in isolated bays, and how to avoid smelling of wee despite rinsing thousands of nappies in salt water.

Through it all Angela rediscovered the kindness of strangers and pushes herself to the limit by ending 25 years of vegetarianism when she eats bacon in the mess hall of a US Coast Guard vessel.

Read an extract here

Sea Fever; From First Mate to First Date  out MAY 4 2012