Tag: blogtour

#BookReview Wayward Voyage by Anna M Holmes @rararesources

whatcathyreadnext

Wayward Voyage

Welcome to the final day of the blog tour for Wayward Voyage by Anna M Holmes. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy.

Wayward VoyageAbout the Book

Anne is a headstrong young girl growing up in the frontier colony of Carolina in the early eighteenth century. With the death of her mother, and others she holds dear, Anne discovers that life is uncertain, so best live it to the full. She rejects the confines of conventional society and runs away to sea, finding herself in the Bahamas, which has become a nest for pirates plaguing the West Indies.

Increasingly dissatisfied with her life, Anne meets a charismatic former pirate, John ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, and persuades him to take up pirating again, and she won’t be left onshore.

​Format: Paperback (480 pages)     Publisher: Book Guild Publishing
Publication date: 29th April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Wayward Voyage on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Set in the so-called Golden Age of piracy, Wayward Voyage alternates between events in the lives of three individuals who became infamous for their buccaneering exploits – Anne Bonny, ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham and Mary Read.

The reader first meets Anne as a child growing up on her father’s plantation in Carolina. Deprived of a mother’s influence and guidance, Anne travels the local area on horseback or spends time learning how to hunt, shoot and wield a sword with Richard, the son of a neighbouring plantation owner. A traumatic experience combined with a rebellious nature results in Anne rejecting the conventional path in life mapped out for her. Unbelievably, she runs off with and marries James Bonny, a young seaman whom she’s met only once before and embarks on a life with him that treads the fine line between privateering and piracy that was a feature of the period. However, things don’t turn out quite as Anne expects. For one, James doesn’t exhibit the adventurous spirit she hoped for and she begins to feel trapped, still longing for the ‘bigger life’ she’s always sought and still believes is out there somewhere.

There’s no lack of adventurous spirit when it comes to ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham. A pirate through and through, he’s lured like so many others by the prospect of plunder from the merchant ships that sail the seas around Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Although he temporarily puts his pirate life behind him, the call of the roving life is too strong to resist for long.

Anne is the main focus of the book but Mary Read is also a fascinating character. Forced to fend for herself from an early age, she successfully passes herself off as a man for many years. The experience of combat and the skills in seamanship she picks up along the way enable her to sign aboard a merchant ship under the name Mark Read. Later, when the ship she is serving on is captured, she joins the crew of pirate chief, Charles Vane. There she witnesses the barbaric consequence of breaking the ship’s articles, the rules that govern everything from how booty will be shared out to what punishment any crime warrants.

An additional point of view, that of Captain Woodes Rogers, introduced part way through the book provides an insight into life in Nassau. On the one hand, it’s a place of genteel gatherings attended by society ladies, on the other it’s the location of seedy taverns and brothels frequented by pirates, or ex-pirates tempted by the prospect of a pardon by the King. Governing such a lawless place is not the end of Rogers’ troubles; an attack on the poorly defended town by the Spanish is an ever-present threat.

As the book reveals, both Anne and Mary possess an independence of spirit unusual for women of their time and a determination not to be constrained by social or gender expectations. It’s rather disappointing then to find that Anne holds distinctly less egalitarian views when it comes to those of a different race and skin colour.

At nearly 500 pages, Wayward Voyage is a chunky read but if some sections move at a rather leisurely pace there are scenes that are full of drama: an attack on ships at anchor by a fireship; the most brutal of shipboard punishments; a fierce sea battle from the deck of a ship displaying the skull and crossed cutlasses. The anticipation of how – and when – the stories of Anne, Jack and Mary will converge also helps maintain the reader’s interest. As the blurb suggests, Anne’s and Jack’s meeting has particularly explosive consequences.

The book includes detailed maps of some of the locations that feature in the story. (Unfortunately these weren’t that legible on my aged Kindle.) It also contains some distinctly piratical cursing.

Although its ambitious scope may have left me feeling adrift in the doldrums at times, there’s no denying the level of research that has gone into the book and, in its livelier moments, Wayward Voyage has all the makings of a swashbuckling historical adventure.

In three words: Well-researched, detailed, immersive

Try something similar: The Traitor of Treasure Island by John Drake

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Anna HolmesAbout the Author

Anna is originally from New Zealand and lives in the UK with her Dutch partner. She holds a BA in Humanities, a post-graduate diploma in Journalism and an MA in Dance Studies.

Initially she worked as a radio journalist before a career in arts management working with UK Arts Councils and as an independent producer, dance history lecturer and she has run a dance development agency. A documentary about pioneers of flamenco in the UK that Anna produced and directed was screened in Marbella International Film Festival and in London. This passion project ensures a slice of cultural history has been captured. It is available on YouTube and via a portal on her website.

Anna has been fascinated by the lives of women pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, for a long time. Some years ago, she visualised this story as a screenplay before exploring and building their world more deeply as a novel. Wayward Voyage made a longlist of 11 for the Virginia Prize in Women’s Fiction 2020. Blind Eye, an eco-thriller, will be published by The Book Guild in September 2021. Her screenplay, Blind Eye, is joint winner of the 2020 Green Stories screenplay competition.

Anna is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and enjoys practising flamenco. Writing, dance, and yoga shape her life.

Connect with Anna
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Wayward Voyage Full Tour Banner

#BookReview Ariadne by Jennifer Saint @RandomTTours @Wildfirebks

whatcathyreadnext4 Comments

Graphic 3

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in the tour and to Wildfire for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

AriadneAbout the Book

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover’s ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods.

Format: Hardcover (400 pages)    Publisher: Wildfire
Publication date: 29th April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Ariadne on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The first thing that drew me to this book was that I was fortunate enough to visit the site of Knossos on a holiday to Crete many years ago. I was also intrigued by the idea of a book that puts its titular heroine, Ariadne, centre stage in the retelling of the myth of the Minotaur.

A recurring theme of the book is the male domination of society and the imbalance of power between men and women. As Ariadne observes, women – including her own mother, Pasiphaë – are blamed and punished for the actions of men, both mortal and divine.  In fact, it’s not quite as simple as that because, as the book shows, mortal women also suffer at the hands of female Gods.  For example, Ariadne ponders on Athena’s actions in punishing Medusa for her seduction by Poseidon: ‘She must punish the girl who was so shameless as to be overpowered by Poseidon… So Medusa had to pay for Poseidon’s act. It made no sense at all.’  

Arguably, the book illustrates the misuse of power per se. For example, Ariadne observes that her brother, the Minotaur, for whom she shows a touching pity when he’s a baby, becomes a display to the world of her father Minos’s dominance. Similarly Minos keeps Daedalus a virtual prisoner on Crete because of his genius for invention and to prevent his knowledge of the secrets of the labyrinth beneath the palace falling into the hands of others.

The author draws the reader into the stories of Ariadne and Phaedra, showing how each in their different way attempt to find their identity and gain some control over their lives.  For Phaedra, used as a political bargaining chip by her brother after the death of Minos in order to secure peace with Athens, it’s about gaining what knowledge she can of the workings of the Athenian state and using that to her advantage.  For Ariadne, living alone in exile on Naxos, it’s about finding the courage and determination to survive. As she says defiantly, ‘I was not Minos’ captive daughter; I was not Cinyras’s trade for copper; nor was I Theseus’s diversion between heroic feats of glory.  Somehow I had survived them all and here I was, free of them at last’.  She does survive, albeit with the help of the male God, Dionysus. In fact, both Ariadne and Phaedra are destined ultimately to be disillusioned, let down and deceived by men who don’t deserve them.

Alongside the stories of Ariadne and Phaedra, there are references to other characters from Greek mythology, such as Medea, Jason and Heracles. At nearly 400 pages, Ariadne is a chunky read but if some sections move at a rather leisurely pace, there are plenty of scenes that are full of energy and drama. For example, the description of a descent into the Underworld.

Although I was aware of the story of Ariadne up to the point of the slaying of the Minotaur and was vaguely aware that she spent time on Naxos, I knew nothing about events in her life thereafter. I had also never heard of her sister, Phaedra, or her mother, Pasiphae. (I obviously should have paid more attention during my Classical Studies lessons at school!) I think this lack of knowledge hampered my ability to fully judge what degree of imagination the author has brought to her retelling of the story of Ariadne. This may also explain why, whilst full of admiration for the superb quality of the writing, my feelings about Ariadne do not quite match the wild – dare I say, Dionysian – enthusiasm of other readers. However, for lovers of Greek mythology, Ariadne is a book I can definitely recommend. And wouldn’t it be great to be reading it on a beach in Crete?

In three words: Emotional, assured, immersive

Try something similar: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Jennifer Saint Author picAbout the Author

Jennifer Saint grew up reading Greek mythology and was always drawn to the untold stories hidden within the myths. After thirteen years as a high school English teacher, sharing a love of literature and creative writing with her students, she wrote Ariadne, her first novel, which tells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne – the woman who made it happen. Jennifer is now a full-time author, living in Yorkshire, England, with her husband and two children. She is working on her second novel, another retelling of ancient myth.

Connect with Jennifer
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Ariadne Bt Poster