In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685, a daughter is born as her half-brother is dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark, and Ma will continue to collect his inheritance money.
Mary's dual existence as Mark will lead to a role as a footman in a grand house, serving a French mistress; to the navy, learning who to trust and how to navigate by the stars; and to the army and the battlegrounds of Flanders, finding love among the bloodshed and the mud. But none of this will stop Mary yearning for the sea.
Drawn back to the water, Mary must reinvent herself yet again, for a woman aboard a ship is a dangerous thing. This time Mary will become something more dangerous than a woman.
She will become a pirate.
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'Tell me your crow name'. - Prologue, March 1721
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(Bloomsbury Publishing, 25 April 2024, e-galley, 368 pages, ARC from the publisher via NetGalley)
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This is a new author for me. I loved Saltblood. I'd like to read the author's other books some day because I enjoyed this so much. The book recounts in part the live of Anne Bonny, a father famous pirate whose story I've come across before. Her paths cross with Mary's and the relationship between them is the core of this novel. I loved their story. This is well-written and engaging. I got sucked into Mary and Anne's life every time I picked up the book and didn't want to leave. I loved this book and would recommend it.
