Overview

The historian R. H. Tawney famously wrote, `The sixteenth century lives in terror of the tramp.' The eighteenth century lived in terror of the tramps of the seas - pirates. Pirates have fascinated people ever since. It was a harsh life for those who went `on the account', constantly overshadowed by the threat of death - through violence, illness, shipwreck, or the hangman's noose. The lure of gold, the excitement of the chase and the freedom that life aboard a pirate ship offered were judged by some to be worth the risk. Helen Hollick explores both the fiction and fact of the Golden Age of piracy, and there are some surprises in store for those who think they know their Barbary Corsair from their boucanier. Everyone has heard of Captain Morgan, but who recognises the name of the aristocratic Frenchman Daniel Montbars? He killed so many Spaniards he was known as `The Exterminator'. The fictional world of pirates, represented in novels and movies, is different from reality. What draws readers and viewers to these notorious hyenas of the high seas? What are the facts behind the fantasy?

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9781445682839

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Reviews

`Helen Hollick has it all! She tells a great story, and gets her history right.' -- Bernard Cornwell

Author Information

Published in the UK at the age of forty with her Arthurian Trilogy and two Saxon novels, Helen was then selected by a US publisher and became a USA Today bestseller. Her Sea Witch Voyages are nautical-based adventures with a touch of fantasy, and are inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy. She also writes a cosy mystery series set in the 1970s. She moved from London in 2013 and now lives in an 18-century farmhouse in North Devon with her family, a variety of animals - and several resident ghosts.

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