Description: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River and I Was Anastasia, a thrilling historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O'Malley, an infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime
Grace O'Malley was born to be at sea. Raised alongside her brother by their father, chief of the name of clan O'Malley, Grace learns early that her dreams of the open water are not compatible with the life she's expected to lead as the daughter of a noble family. And when her father marries her to the wrong man, a neighboring chief named Donhal, Grace's world shifts for the worse. Undaunted, Grace raises a family without abandoning her passion, aiding her hot-tempered husband in his campaigns against rival tribes. Eventually ousted from her husband's land in the wake of his death, Grace returns to her childhood home and begins her career as a pirate in earnest, claiming new territories and finding deeper love, only to see her livelihood threatened by English incursions into Ireland, and her family endangered in an attempt to check her power. Tenderly observed and fiercely written, Ariel Lawhon's gripping latest channels the natural beauty of sixteenth-century Ireland alongside the brutality of the period as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine and defender of her people, who truly earned the title "the Pirate Queen of Ireland."Review Quotes: A New York Times Editors' Choice ● People Best Books of September
"Epic. . . Engaging. . . This propulsive 500-page book delivers a spirited, layered feminist historical chronicle of one woman who resists convention every step of the way." --New York Times Book Review "A page-turner. . . Bold and daring, it's a thrill-a-minute adventure with an absolute badass at the helm." --Real Simple "Thrilling . . . Game of Thrones characters wish they were this badass." --People "Legendary historical figure Grace O'Malley commands the page as she once commanded the Atlantic in this thrilling tale of clan rivalries, daring escapades, bloody betrayals, and female power. . . Lawhon's swaggering epic transports us to a mythic era complete with brave heroes and heroines, loyal servants and vile villains." --Oprah Daily "Epic . . . An action-packed adventure that could be a spectacular movie in the right filmmaker's hands (we're looking at you, Mr. Nolan)." --AARP "An immersive odyssey."--Booklist, Starred Review "A thrilling story, and the fun that Lawhon clearly had with scenes of bloody mayhem, storms at sea, treacherous machinations, and low Gaelic dialect is contagious. Her pirate queen is brilliant, beautiful, and fearless; her loyal servants are adoring and capable; her male foes are sleazy scumbags and detestable boobs--all exactly as it should be. A heroic, exciting, and stormy voyage."--Kirkus Reviews"A vivid portrait of a larger-than-life figure whose feats of bravery and cunning have become the stuff of legend." --Library Journal "A harrowing and hell-raising historical adventure." --BookPage "Exhilarating . . . rewards attentive readers with recurring imagery and motifs forming an increasingly complex portrait of the heroine. This is transportive." --Publishers Weekly
"Engrossing" --Women's World "[This] wonderful, action-packed epic both brings a real heroine lost to the margins of history back into mainstream appreciation, and pays tribute to the rich folkloric tradition that surrounds her legacy." --CrimeReads "An action-packed, epic reimagining of the woman often remembered as the Pirate Queen of Ireland." --Yahoo! Entertainment "Lawhon gives us an adventure full of ships, battles, political intrigue and danger, but Grace herself is the real prize. She's a reminder that strong women can indeed influence our history. . . [A] rousing historical adventure with a heroine worth following into troubled waters." --Summerville Journal Scene