"One hundred English pounds," bellowed a new bidder in a voice that echoed from the high curve of the dome. Sam hadn't planned on attending a slave auction. He was, after all, on his way to unravel the riddle of the Nile River's sources. Seeing the beautiful and proud Florie offered on the auction block strikes a chord deep within. Sam quickly realizes that his noble attempt to save her presents a dilemma: the scandal will not only destroy his family and reputation in Victorian-era England, but will jeopardize his dreams of fame. Young Florie von Sass is stunned when British explorer Sam Baker thunders the winning bid for her. Even more shocking is when Sam suddenly abandons her. With the Ottoman governor's slave catchers determined to return her to bondage, Florie desperately follows Sam on a haunting and perilous journey from the savage shores of the Black Sea to the uncharted heart of Central Africa. Ken Czech's fictionalized account of this true story of Sam Baker and the woman he comes to love follows this unlikely pair into the depths of unknown Africa where they are enmeshed in a struggle against wild beasts, killer diseases, and the horrors of a slave trade that has spread its tentacles to the very headwaters of the Nile.