Saltblood

'A gripping tale of one woman's extraordinary adventures ... Saltblood is a triumph of the imagination' ELODIE HARPER, author of 'The Wolf Den' trilogy 'A ravishing picaresque told with fireworks, finesse and gusto' PAUL LYNCH, author of Prophet Song 'A well crafted, salty, old-fashioned adventure about identity and freedom' The Times 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. Breathing life into the Golden Age of Piracy, Saltblood is a wild adventure, a treasure trove, weaving an intoxicating tale of gender and survival, passion and loss, journeys and transformation, through the story of Mary Read, one of history's most remarkable figures. **** Saltblood by Francesca De Tores is historical fiction – or rather historical part-fiction, as it concerns none other than Mary Read, a real-life English pirate who rose through the ranks of the navy before defecting to piracy and finding her life’s purpose there. Read herself is notorious enough to inspire songs about her escapades, pop up in television shows, and even appear as an Assassin’s Creed character of all things, so it’s not surprising that she takes centre stage here. Saltblood‘s greatest strength lies in its grace in infusing real-world characters with depth and nuance; pirates such as Anne Bonny and Jack Rackham make appearances throughout, and are treated with the care of well-regarded secondary characters, full of foibles and contradictions, brimming with life. Best of all is Mary herself, a fluid, shifting avatar of identity, restlessly seeking adventure and home, finding both, at least for a time, on the waves, neither heroine nor villain.