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Overview"How does a girl become a pirate? Infamous 18th-century pirate Mary Read tells the story of her childhood in this compelling novel by the award-winning author of The Marlowe Papers. ""This mesmerising novel is lyrical, visceral and vivid"" - Maggie Brookes ""a riveting read with irresistible characters you'd want to befriend in real life"" - Patience Agbabi At the gallows in Port Royal, Jamaica, the crew of Calico Jack is about to be hanged. One of them holds a secret that will delay her execution. But how did she get there? Twenty-five years earlier in Devon, England, a child known as 'Tyke' is plotting with her eight-year-old brother to kill the Dutch sailor who raped their mother. When the plan goes wrong, Tyke is knocked unconscious, and her brother disappears. In London, disguised as a boy, she soon discovers deceit is her only path to freedom. The coming-of-age novel, the origin story of the female pirate Mary Read, is the powerful tale of one girl's quest for independence. ""The walk to the gallows is a feast of sensation. Nothing lets you know you're alive like Death at your shoulder. Prodded up some badly-carpentered steps, your wrists bound in sisal, your ankles hobbled with iron cuffs, to a platform where your extinction twirls in the breeze in a loop ahead of you. On the fifth step, the protruding slant of a nailhead knocked in by some fellow not caring too much about the finish. Not caring too much about who'd be going up these steps and not coming down again. That slant nail groans through the grain of a tree chopped down and planked to bear your weight, its wood striped with every year it grew. A tree once slender as a finger. Its whole future contained in a seed you could put in your mouth and swallow. Life shows up to say goodbye. Last taste! says the brain, that roguish companion who steered you into so many holes. Drink it in! says the old thinker. Meaning eyes and ears and nose and every hair on your body, but what you have the most thirst for is air. You suck it deep into your lungs and despite the sun already fierce on your skin, the air comes in cool because the wind is running in strong from the sea. If your eyes are thirsty, nature rises up to satisfy them, willing as that sweet wench at the Fortune. Colours as vivid as they've ever been, any day of your life. Last moments! they shout. Nature puts on a show for those about to fertilise it, whether hung in cages over the water or dug into the ground. Nature gives thanks with yellows so yellow they punch you in the throat. Paragreets screeching laughter in the trees, green as limes. Hibiscus flowers red as a whore's dress. The sky so blue and wide and empty it makes you want to weep for your mother, even if she never much loved you and often wished you unborn. The whole crowd gathered to watch you die ripples like a field of wheat. Behind them, bleached and clustering huts, and behind the huts, the sea shushing you with its ancient song. That old keeper of your history, laying itself over the beach again and again saying miss me, miss me. The Governor comes out of the low white building where he has been putting on his braids and fakery. The costume required to kill with authority and without penalty...""" Full Product DetailsAuthor: Ros BarberPublisher: Phoebus Books Imprint: Phoebus Books Dimensions: Width: 12.70cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 20.30cm ISBN: 9781739400712ISBN 10: 1739400712 Pages: 212 Publication Date: 12 June 2023 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In stock We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately. Table of ContentsReviews"""Nothing Becoming takes on the big themes-love, sex and death-to examine an extraordinary life with panache and profundity. It's a riveting read with irresistible characters you'd want to befriend in real life. Ros Barber has penned an eloquent masterpiece."" - Patience Agbabi, author of The Infinite ""This mesmerising novel is lyrical, visceral and vivid, as the early life of a female pirate unfolds in unexpected, memorable and moving ways. This is a work of swagger, music and polish where scrupulous research combines with compelling story-telling and intuitive empathy. I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy."" - Maggie Brookes, author of Acts of Love and War Praise for The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre, 2012) ""Themes of identity and self-esteem, of truth and loyalty, give substance to Barber's enthralling plot in a work that combines historical erudition with a sharply satisfying read. Marlowe's passion infects the page; Barber's skill draws the fever."" - The Independent ""This rich and charmingly playful work avoids the potential for whimsy inherent in such an undertaking. The thrill at reimagining the events and era comes through wave after wave in Barber's blank verse."" - The Telegraph ""With the screw-tightening verve of a great thriller and the romantic pull of Renaissance poetry, the novel - which purports that Marlowe is the true author of William Shakespeare's legendary oeuvre - is a gripping, lyrical, most unlikely page-turner."" - American Way Praise for Devotion (Oneworld, 2015) ""compelling... a novel so animated with fascinating, troubling ideas."" - The Guardian ""Barber's poetic prose is a sheer pleasure to read, and because of her skill, the book is a rewarding meditation on the tragedies that motivate or destroy a person's reasons for living."" - Publishers Weekly ""Barber's sensational premise delivers an unexpectedly piercing exploration of loss and different kinds of faith."" - Kirkus Reviews" """Nothing Becoming takes on the big themes-love, sex and death-to examine an extraordinary life with panache and profundity. It's a riveting read with irresistible characters you'd want to befriend in real life. Ros Barber has penned an eloquent masterpiece."" - Patience Agbabi, author of The Infinite "" This mesmerising novel is lyrical, visceral and vivid, as the early life of a female pirate unfolds in unexpected, memorable and moving ways. This is a work of swagger, music and polish where scrupulous research combines with compelling story-telling and intuitive empathy. I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy."" - Maggie Brookes, author of Acts of Love and War Praise for The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre, 2012) ""Themes of identity and self-esteem, of truth and loyalty, give substance to Barber's enthralling plot in a work that combines historical erudition with a sharply satisfying read. Marlowe's passion infects the page; Barber's skill draws the fever."" - The Independent ""This rich and charmingly playful work avoids the potential for whimsy inherent in such an undertaking. The thrill at reimagining the events and era comes through wave after wave in Barber's blank verse."" - The Telegraph ""With the screw-tightening verve of a great thriller and the romantic pull of Renaissance poetry, the novel - which purports that Marlowe is the true author of William Shakespeare's legendary oeuvre - is a gripping, lyrical, most unlikely page-turner."" - American Way Praise for Devotion (Oneworld, 2015) ""compelling... a novel so animated with fascinating, troubling ideas."" - The Guardian ""Barber's poetic prose is a sheer pleasure to read, and because of her skill, the book is a rewarding meditation on the tragedies that motivate or destroy a person's reasons for living."" - Publishers Weekly ""Barber's sensational premise delivers an unexpectedly piercing exploration of loss and different kinds of faith."" - Kirkus Reviews" Author InformationAuthor Website: http://https://rosbarber.comRos Barber is a novelist, academic, and poet. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel The Marlowe Papers was winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize, joint winner of the Author's Club Best First Novel Award and long-listed for the Women's Fiction Prize. Her critically-acclaimed second novel Devotion was shortlisted for the Encore Award. She is a senior lecturer in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. Tab Content 6Author Website: http://https://rosbarber.comCountries AvailableAll regions |