This book is a rarity - a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication -- Hilary Mantel
Rich and immersive * Sunday Times *
Breathlessly swashbuckling ... both full-blooded historical fiction and thoughtful literary deconstruction, both elements immaculately researched. You can take pleasure in her punchy plotting and flamboyant nautical descriptions, plus the subversive Molly's complex navigation of those dual selves - with Orlando a clear nod to Woolf's similarly gender-bending novel * Daily Telegraph *
A gripping feminist adventure story * Cosmopolitan *
A thrilling adventure novel that richly evokes the sights, sounds and smells of Devon at the turn of the eighteenth century. Smugglers, pirates and some cameos from some well-known writers - what's not to like! It presents swashbuckling action alongside reflections on authorship, agency and the powerful question of who gets to write history -- Fiona Mozley, Booker shortlisted author of ELMET and HOT STEW
I loved this tremendous book and devoured it in two days. Vividly imagined, relentlessly entertaining, rich and resonant in scope and context, it's both a thrilling adventure and a vital witness to women's voices -- Emma Stonex, author of THE LAMPLIGHTERS
It is a breathtaking feat of historical fiction, and an utterly astounding novel. It is wise, urgent and entirely compelling. I was bereft when it ended. If it does not win every prize for fiction next year, I will be amazed. * Wyl Menmuir, author of The Draw of the Sea *
A blistering tale of early 18th-century love, betrayal, murder, and revenge, wrapped up in a novel of smuggling, piracy, shipbuilding, and a girl who is not as she seems. The prose is superb * Historical Novels Society *
Employing lusty couplings, a brooding hero and a tender young heroine, Sherwood plays knowingly with the romantic genre ... By both undermining and indulging the genre, it seems Sherwood is having her delicious contraband cake and eating it, too * Suzi Feay, Guardian *
[Sherwood] adopts the dramatic conventions of the 18th-century adventure novel to spin a tale of secrecy, betrayal and law-breaking on the open seas, while cleverly subverting those same codes to reveal an inherently feminist agenda . . . champions rather than elides the female voice, giving her heroine the right to both speak and record the truth about her life * Harper's Bazaar *
