by Meg Caddy ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2020
A satisfying seafaring adventure.
A swashbuckling fictional account of two of the world’s most infamous pirates.
Fiery 18-year-old Anne Bonny flees from her abusive husband into the arms of Calico Jack Rackham and a life at sea. Disguised as a boy, she sails as a pirate aboard Calico’s ship—only he knows her true identity. When a dalliance with Calico leads to an unwanted pregnancy, Bonny plans to wait out her pregnancy in Cuba, where they are headed. When their ship is attacked by pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet, Calico’s crew flees, leaving an injured Bonny behind. She befriends Martin Read, an even-keeled sailor from Barnet’s crew, and the duo escape to Havana, where Bonny waits out her pregnancy. However, both Barnet and Bonny’s husband are on the hunt. Bonny’s first-person narration is punctuated by chapters following Barnet in close third person; Bonny’s narrative voice is compelling while Barnet’s portions mostly just work to keep the plot at a clip. While some aspects of Bonny’s and Read’s intersecting timelines are rearranged, Caddy maintains historical authenticity throughout, neither dampening the violence of the setting nor the dangers of having a marginalized body. Most characters are white. The two black pirates on Calico’s crew were formerly enslaved; one is also implied to be gay. The author plays with gender and identity, maintaining the spirit of the traditional story while adding much-needed trans representation.
A satisfying seafaring adventure. (map) (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1925773-46-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Text
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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PERSPECTIVES
by Adriana Mather ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2019
A strong beginning that will leave readers hungry for more.
Subterfuge is the name of the game at an elite and secretive prep school.
Seventeen-year-old Italian-American November was born in August. Though she tragically lost her mother at age 6, she has an enviable life in small-town Connecticut, a strong relationship with her dad, and a mentor in her Aunt Jo. That is until, due to a family emergency, her father sends her away to a covert boarding school. Instead of mathematics and literature, students at the Academy Absconditi learn how to wield weapons both physical and psychological, and history is taught so they might manipulate the future. Guileless November quickly allies herself with her studious Egyptian roommate, Layla, and Layla’s handsome brother, Ash. When a fellow student turns up dead, November must expose the truth, including her own connection to the victim and the influential Council of Families, while navigating a minefield of misinformation. The first-person narration is unreliable due to the protagonist’s ignorance of the society in which she moves, while surreptitious behavior by the supporting characters forces the reader to be as wary as November ought to be. Revelations are well-paced, though astute readers are apt to pick up several of the dropped clues (but some are dropped and not resolved). Red herrings or possible threads that will be woven into future plots? Anything is possible in this world of cloaks and daggers.
A strong beginning that will leave readers hungry for more. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-57908-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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by Elizabeth Wein ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2012
A carefully researched, precisely written tour de force; unforgettable and wrenching.
Breaking away from Arthurian legends (The Winter Prince, 1993, etc.), Wein delivers a heartbreaking tale of friendship during World War II.
In a cell in Nazi-occupied France, a young woman writes. Like Scheherezade, to whom she is compared by the SS officer in charge of her case, she dribbles out information—“everything I can remember about the British War Effort”—in exchange for time and a reprieve from torture. But her story is more than a listing of wireless codes or aircraft types. Instead, she describes her friendship with Maddie, the pilot who flew them to France, as well as the real details of the British War Effort: the breaking down of class barriers, the opportunities, the fears and victories not only of war, but of daily life. She also describes, almost casually, her unbearable current situation and the SS officer who holds her life in his hands and his beleaguered female associate, who translates the narrative each day. Through the layers of story, characters (including the Nazis) spring to life. And as the epigraph makes clear, there is more to this tale than is immediately apparent. The twists will lead readers to finish the last page and turn back to the beginning to see how the pieces slot perfectly, unexpectedly into place.
A carefully researched, precisely written tour de force; unforgettable and wrenching. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4231-5219-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
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