Monday, March 5, 2007

Bloody Jack: being an account of the curious adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, ship's boy by L.A. Meyer



I was pleasantly surprised by this one that I read for Abe. I thought I had read it before and not liked it, but I think I'm remembering some other pirate novel. I really liked this one! Mary Faber becomes an oprhan at a young age in London because sickness destroys her family. She falls in with a rough crowd of kids who teach her to beg, but her real skill of making money is having the ability to read. After the senseless death of her gang leader, she cuts her hair, and goes off to sea as a ship's boy. She's good at it. But, in her career as a ship's boy who earns her way to midshipman, she becomes a woman in more ways than one. Puberty hits and she has to hide all sorts of things from her shipmates. She falls in love with another shipboy who she reveals her sex to. She earns the nickname "Bloody Jack" because she kills a pirate during an attack, and kills a man who tries to rape her. Eventually, of course, everyone finds out that she is a girl, and the captain and crew (who respects her) arranges for her to go to an American school for girls. To find out what happens next, read the sequel!

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