《Pirates!》

Book Description Nancy Kington, daughter of a rich merchant, suddenly orphaned when her father dies, is sent to live on her family's plantation in Jamaica. Disgusted by the treatment of the slaves and her brother's willingness to marry her off, she and one of the slaves, Minerva, run away and join a band of pirates. For both girls the pirate life is their only chance for freedom in a society where both are treated like property, rather than individuals. Together they go in search of adventure, love, and a new life that breaks all restrictions of gender, race, and position. Told through Nancy's writings, their adventures will appeal to readers across the spectrum and around the world. Amazon.com Nancy Kington, a wealthy merchant’s daughter living in Bristol, England in the early 1700’s, is sometimes lonely but enjoys the privileges her father's business brings. Minerva Sharpe is a penniless slave’s daughter living and working on the Kington’s Jamaican plantation. These two young women, united through a set of extraordinary circumstances including a brutal murder, an arranged marriage, and set of ruby earrings, find themselves sailing the high seas in search of love, adventure and freedom—as pirates! Celebrated British author Celia Rees (Witch Child, Sorceress) has penned a treasure chest of a tale that will keep teens glued to the pages until the last villain sinks to a deserved watery grave and the last beautiful heroine is reunited with her lost love. Frustrated land-lubbers will want to follow up this four-star read with L.A. Meyer’s Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship’s Boy or Sara Lorimer‘s Booty, a collection of all-true tales of swashbuckling women. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Jennifer Hubert From School Library Journal Grade 6-9-This swashbuckling adventure features all of the elements of a grand pirate tale: sword fights, duels, charming rogues, true love, murder, and the odd severed head. Narrator Nancy Kington joins a pirate crew to escape an arranged marriage to a deliciously evil Brazilian, a former pirate himself. She takes along Minerva, a slave who not too surprisingly turns out to be her half sister. The pirates, in one of many happy coincidences, are captained by Mr. Broom, who had already befriended Nancy on an earlier voyage. Quickly adapting to the life, the two young women survive storms, capture, mutiny, and more. This crew manages to steal with little or no bloodshed, except when the victims are clearly villainous themselves. Nancy comes to relish the excitement of sea life, but still hopes to reunite with the young man she loves, who serves with the British Navy. The narration is well paced and engrossing, giving readers a strong feel for the times without bogging down in details. Nancy describes the practice of slavery and the rights of women perceptively, but fairly convincingly for a 1725 character of her background and experience. The first 100 pages are less exciting than the rest of the book, but they set the stage nicely for the involving exploits that follow. The inevitable showdown with the Brazilian provides a satisfying page-turner of a climax. While a few of the supporting characters seem a bit wooden, and some plot twists stretch credulity, this is a rip-roaring adventure with an engaging female heroine. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR From Booklist Gr. 7-10. In eighteenth-century England, teenage Nancy, whose mother died in childbirth, has been groomed for an arranged marriage that will secure her family's fortune, which is in ruins following the death of her father, a sugar merchant and slave trader. When Nancy's brothers secretly broker her marriage to a ruthless Caribbean plantation owner, Nancy travels to her family's estate in Jamaica. As she bonds tightly to two slaves, Phillis and her daughter, Minerva, she confronts the source of her family's wealth for the first time and realizes what slavery really means. Fleeing her would-be husband and the unspeakable inhumanity on the plantation, Nancy escapes the island with Minerva, and together they join the crew of a pirate ship, traveling the seas and sword slinging with the men. Rees ties her sprawling, swashbuckling story together with numerous contrivances, and descriptions of violence on the plantation and on the ship veer into territory that may be too mature for some middle-schoolers. But as in Witch Child (2001), Rees evokes the times with stunning precision, and in Nancy's fierce, period-appropriate voice, she tells a riveting, full-speed adventure filled with girl-powered action, magic, and love, even as it explores the brutality and horror of dark historical times. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Gillian Engberg From AudioFile Listeners will be enchanted by Jennifer Wiltsie's narration of the exploits of female pirates Nancy Kington and Minerva Sharpe. Wiltsie's characterization of Nancy, the merchant's daughter, is spellbinding, blending a slightly aristocratic British accent with the attitudes of the eighteenth-century American bourgeoisie. Minerva, a slave at birth, is equally well done. The stage for adventure is set when the two women cross the path of the evil Brazilian pirate turned plantation owner who yearns to marry Nancy so that he may acquire her inheritance. This is an enchanting tale of two brave souls who escape their predetermined stations in life and fight for their freedom. D.L.M. Book Dimension : length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.9