Kingston by Starlight

Starred review from April 1, 2005
"Time" magazine senior editor Farley writes a wonderfully swashbuckling tale of life on the high seas as seen through the eyes of female pirate Anne Bonny. Fictionalizing the central players of one of Jamaica's most famous pirating trials, he picks up with Bonny as a teenager in her native Ireland and follows her quest for her father, which eventually leads her to the Bahamas. Bonny is drawn to the sailing life and particularly to pirate Calico Jack Rackham, signing aboard his ship disguised as a man. Wonderful descriptions of seafaring recall passages from the likes of "Moby-Dick" and "Treasure Island" and reveal to the reader the rough and sometimes deadly life that Bonny has chosen. A motley ship's crew forms a brotherhood of sorts as the members share their tales and secrets of their own -especially with regard to the mysterious and compelling swordfighter known as Read, who befriends Bonny. The climax is a trial with a most unusual outcome. An engrossing and exciting story; highly recommended for all libraries. -Leann Restaino, Jameson Health Syst., New Castle, PA

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2005
Aboard the eighteenth-century pirate sloop " William, "officers routinely berated underlings as "sea-bitches" instead of "sea-dogs." For crew members Bonny and Read, the insult was technically more accurate. History knows them as Ann Bonny and Mary Read, both of whom served in disguise under an iconic pirate of the Caribbean, Calico Jack Rackham. Guided as much by his imagination as by historical fact, Farley adopts the perspective of Bonny in her dotage, recounting her peculiar path from Ireland to the Bahamas, where she boldly opts to plunge into the "churning cauldron of manhood stirred by Poseidon's staff." There are stretches of surprisingly dead water despite the swashbuckling subject; Farley's portrayal of the tedium of the seafaring life is realistic but not particularly exciting, and he overindulges his interest in the social history of outsiders, dwelling particularly on how Bonny's extra-dark skin (an invented detail?) intensified her alienation from mainstream society. Seaworthy, if not particularly fleet, this will gratify fans of maritime yarns, while the subversive protagonist and homoerotic themes--they are, after all, sailors--should attract an even broader readership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)