Slipping the Noose

This rollicking historical novel from Australian writer Meg Caddy takes us into the world of real-life pirate Anne Bonny; picking up her story where history left off.

The way out is through.

Anne Bonny is chained up in the hold of a prison ship; nursing nine-month-old Molly. The baby is all she has left of Calico Jack; the swaggering pirate captain who loved her and stole her away to sea-and who now hangs from a gibbet. When armed men rip the child from her grasp; Bonny can do nothing and Molly seems lost. But Anne Bonny was not cut out for despair. She will plan for escape and rescue; and the plan will become action. And the streets of London will belong to her and her daughter-and the ragtag remnants of Calico Jack's crew.

Anne Bonny looms large in the history of piracy on the high seas. But history; having left the notorious female buccaneer languishing in a Jamaican jail; then carelessly mislaid her. Fortunately we have Meg Caddy to imagine her subsequent exploits and whereabouts; and to bring them so vividly and rakishly to life.