Sailing with the Wind of Freedom, historical novel for middle school readers, is inspired by the life of a heroine from the Greek Revolution. It transports the reader to the seemingly quiet Greek Island of Spetses, a remote corner of the Ottoman Empire, where dreams of freedom still lived in the hearts of the Sultan’s Greek subjects. The book opens in 1786, at a fateful moment in the life of fifteen-year-old Lascarina Lazarou. The islanders have always been suspicious of her: no one knows who her father is, and her mother takes care to guard this secret even from her own daughter. Worse yet, Lascarina is a brilliant sailor. The lessons she learns when she competes in a hard-fought sailing race stand her in good stead all her days. Lascarina passes into history as Bouboulina. She brings her country’s battle for freedom to the door of the Sultan’s palace and wins help from a highly unlikely leader, to whom she makes a momentous promise. Using her own fortune, she builds a fleet of warships. She rallies her countrymen to wage their War for Independence in 1821 and sails into battle in her own flagship. The story of Lascarina’s life is a study in ‘girl power,’ filled with adventures and swashbuckling characters. It will expose young readers to a time and place that may seem exotic and will also make them ponder complex themes – the emergence of nationalism, and its consequences; the importance of self-determination; the cascade of horrors unleashed by ethnic hatred; and the limited options open to women for most of recorded history.