The Ghost Ship by Kate Mosse
Synopsis
A sweeping and epic love story of concealed identity, piracy and revenge, ranging from Paris and La Rochelle in 1610, to Amsterdam and the Canary Islands in the 1620s, The Ghost Ship is a thrilling and heart-breaking novel of adventure and buccaneering, love and revenge, stolen fortunes and hidden secrets on the High Seas.
August 1621: The Ghost Ship floats silently on the water, all guns silenced, all voices quiet. In the hold, the bodies of men who are dead or dying. Only two pirates remain on deck, still defending their vessel against the superior firepower of the Spanish galleon. Slavers or freedom fighters, this stretch of water off the Barbary Coast is home to more privateers than any other and this vessel has seen more than its fair share of action. Now, its hull is splintered, the sails tattered and burnt.
For many months, the ship has hunted pirates in the waters of the Islas Afortunadas to liberate those enslaved by corsairs. A courageous crew made up of mariners from Italy and France, Holland and the Canary Islands, they are brave men, fighting men all. But things are not what they seem. For the bravest of the men on board are, in fact, women living in disguise to protect their identities: the commander of the ship, Louise Reydon-Joubert, fleeing a miscarriage of justice that would see her taken to the gallows; and her lover, Gilles Barenton, exchanged as a child for her dead brother to falsely claim an inheritance.
Both know their fate. If arrested, they will be tried, condemned and hanged for their crimes. Whatever happens, they cannot allow their identities to be discovered...
Reviews
'Another meticulously researched and stunningly written novel by a much-loved and highly accomplished author. I adored it!' - Santa Montefiore
'The Ghost Ship is utterly absorbing. I couldn’t put it down' - Louise Minchin
About the Author
Kate Mosse is an award-winning novelist, playwright, essayist and non-fiction writer. The author of ten novels and short-story collections, her books have been translated into thirty-eight languages and published in more than forty countries. Fiction includes the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy, the Joubert Family Chronicles (the number one bestseller The Burning Chambers, The City of Tears, and The Ghost Ship), and number one bestselling Gothic fiction. Her highly-acclaimed non-fiction includes An Extra Pair of Hands and Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World. The Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, she is the Founder of the global #WomanInHistory campaign and has her own monthly YouTube book show, Mosse on a Monday. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Kate is a Visiting Professor of Contemporary Fiction and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester and President of the Festival of Chichester.