ThNk you for the chance to re@d this amazing book by an amazing author. These stories really capture you from the opening, and it’s a thril to curl up with a cup of tea and read way past your bedtime.

Thank you NetGalley for approving me for this book. I am so glad I was able to read this book as I really enjoyed this and will read more by this author.

Kate Mosse always delivers a 5 star read and this is no exception.

Continuing the story of the Joubert family, The Ghost Ship concentrates on Louise Reydon-Joubert, granddaughter to Minou and Piet, daughter of Marta.

Louise craves a life on the sea, she pushes against the boundaries and superstition that stop women from sailing on the merchant ships, and through her aunt's shipping company, makes it on board. Of course, not all the male crew are on side and she and the captain see each other very differently. Ending up as the Capitana, and in a secret relationship, Louise's voyages are thrilling and dangerous.

The characters in this story are so well crafted, they're lifelike and there's a host of adventurous, sordid, caring, passionate, nasty - a full crew of characteristics. You'll love them, hate them, and hope for things to come.

The ending has left me hanging for a sequel!

Having read and loved the first two novels in Mosse’s Burning Chambers series, I had high expectations of The Ghost Ship and, happily, was not disappointed. Once again, Mosse delivers an engrossing piece of storytelling, steeped in historical detail and featuring another fabulous female protagonist in Louise Raydon-Joubert.

At 500 pages, this is a fair chunk of a book, but I was very quickly sucked into the world of early 17th century Europe and Louise’s dream to own and captain her own ship, despite the laws forbidding women from doing so.

Her ambition takes her on a wild adventure across the high seas; one involving betrayal, revenge and romance, and captaincy of the feared Ghost Ship, which patrols the seas around the Canary Islands, accosting pirate and slave ships.

As with the other women in her family, Louise is a formidable character: bold, fearless and with a will of iron. But she also has her weaknesses, especially in matters of the heart, and this softens her otherwise hard edges, making her relatable and likeable.

From start to finish, this was a thrilling and hugely enjoyable read. It can be read as a standalone, but I’d still recommend reading the earlier books in order to get to know the Joubert family and its difficult past.

As always with Kate Mosse, an intelligent read, which has been well researched, and has a really good story. I loved this book. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review it.

I was glad The Ghost Ship works as a standalone, until the end with its cliffhanger, but I think there will be a 4th, thank goodness. Mystery, pirates, danger and revenge abound in the 17th century. Beautifully written. Like the others, Kate Mosse gives us a vivid picture of the Barbary Coast in 1621. Couldn't put it down.

This epic novel is part of a series, but I read it as a standalone. And loved it! The characters of Louise and Gilles leapt off the page, and I was hooked from the very beginning. I can always trust Kate Mosse to tell a great tale, but this novel was superb. Female empowerment, at a time when women were very much second-class citizens, is always wonderful to read, but this tale of high seas adventure and forbidden love was particularly well executed. Brilliant stuff!

The Ghost Ship by Kate Mosse is the third book in the brilliant The Burning Chambers - The saga of the Reydon-Joubert family.
This series has just blown me away, from the first book to the lastest book. Kate Mosse always writes beautifully, with so much care and attention etc and you feel like you are a part of the book.
Kate Mosse is my go to author I always find all her books I have read Just excellent. Kate has done it again!

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I love this author and feel privileged to be able to read this

Yet another banger from Kate Mosse and although part of trilogy series, can be enjoyed as a standalone novel..
I have been fortunate to have read others

Set to a female perspective, this was engrossing and I got completely transported

A wonderful summer read

Although some characters make a return appearance, such as Marguerite ‘Minou’ Reydon-Joubert and her husband Piet, and the storyline involving a disputed inheritance and a desire for revenge continues from the earlier books, I would say The Ghost Ship is the easiest book in the series to read as a standalone because it moves quickly from historical saga to maritime adventure – and love story. For new readers, the author includes some recaps of events in earlier books and a helpful list of principal characters.

Historical detail has always been a strong point of Kate Mosse’s books so much so that you can easily imagine yourself walking the streets of Amsterdam or the quayside of La Rochelle, or later in the book, the Canary Islands. And, in this book, you can add to that what it would be like to be onboard a trading ship, one that at any moment might come under attack from corsairs.

Louise Reydon-Joubert makes a spirited protagonist, determined not to let her gender prevent her achieving her ambition to become captain of her own ship, an ambition she has harboured (if you’ll pardon the pun) ever since her first experience aboard a ship as a young girl. In this, Cornelia van Raay, the companion of Louise’s great-aunt, provides an example of a woman making her way in a man’s world, and one in an unconvential relationship. However, several things – and individuals – stand in Louise’s way and even when one of those is unexpectedly removed it doesn’t mean the end of her troubles, but in fact just the beginning.

An encounter with a corsair galley propelled by slaves chained to its oars sets Louise on a path that sees her and the crew of the Old Moon embark on a new and very dangerous mission. Horrified by the idea of a trade in human lives, she sets out to disrupt the corsairs’ activities. ‘She was determined to become not a pirate herself, but the scourge of pirates – a ‘she-captain’, the huntress and hellion of the high seas.’ Unfortunately, pirates are not the only opposition she faces because legitimate merchants are also starting to scent the possibility of profit from transporting human cargo rather than grain or other goods. And although Louise proves her worth to her crew there are people who simply cannot accept a woman as captain of a ship. (Cue the famous line from a Monty Python sketch, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”)

Louise’s companion in her endeavours is Gilles Barenton who has his own reasons for wanting to escape his past. Their paths become entwined in the most dramatic way, triggering long buried memories of bloody events in Louise’s own childhood.

Kate Mosse doesn’t write short books but, despite its length, The Ghost Ship is a thrilling page-turner with a story that will sweep you along and some brilliant action scenes. (My one grumble is that I think the blurb gives too much of the story away.) As is her way, the author leaves us with a tantalising introduction to the next book in the series, set in Cape Town.

The Ghost Ship is yet another page turner from Kate Mosse and although part of a trilogy, can be enjoyed as a standalone novel.. Set during 1600s Europe as the Spanish Inquisition takes hold, The Ghost Ship follows the lives of two females as they make their way in a world dominated and controlled by men. As Louise and Gilles lives uncontrollably intertwine, the reader is thrust into a world of intrigue, danger and blackmail. Constantly under threat of discovery, the two protagonists must ensure that their secrets, both individual and combined, are hidden well.

Brilliant and perfect for a lazy summer read

The Ghost Ship is the third in this series, I've not read the other two (though I've read many of Kate Mosse's other novels!) and whilst it would no doubt be beneficial to understand the backstory this can also be read on its own.

Despite the title, most of the action takes place on dry land (thankfully, as I'm not a huge fan of boat based historical novels!) This is set in the early C17th century between France, Amsterdam and the Canary Islands. All locations are so vividly brought to life, with srunning historical detail, as you'd expect from such a masterful writer. This is an epic love story, surely perfect to be adapted for TV or film.

This third book in Kate Mosse’s French saga does not disappoint. From land to sea she captures the history of 17th century France and the Netherlands.

Louise Reydon-Joubert has come into her inheritance and is a wealthy woman. Now all she wants to do is to go to sea. Whilst in La Rochelle she meets Gilles Barenton and is immediately attracted to this young man, however Gilles hides a secret. Louise sails in her ship, The Old Moon, to Las Palmas but along the way the captain meets an unfortunate end, this is the opportunity Louise has craved.
I have stuck with this book series from Mosse and I'm glad I have done as this is easily the best of them so far. Mosse is clear that she has been influenced by the tales of the pirates Bonny and Read and this is evident in the tale of Gilles but it just adds colour to the narrative. What I do love is the way this novel is set in the time where the Dutch Netherlands were becoming independent from Spain and the VOC were becoming successful, however it also tackles the thornier subject of slavery and the often overlooked enslavement of Europeans by the Barbary corsairs. I lot of background and an exciting tale.

A continuation in the Joubert family story, the third book in the Burning Chambers series. I did not enjoy this so much as the first two but as part of a massive family saga encompassing many parts of the 17th century world, I am definitely looking forward to the final instalment. This is full of interesting snippets regarding the shipping trade, life on board etc. Thanks to Netgalley.

Louise Reydon Joubert, is a well to do woman who has just received her inheritance from her father. She is keen to be independent and in fact ends up captaining a vessel that hunts pirates and frees the sailors they have enslaved. Her lover Gilles Barenton has a complex history and their relationship is one that would be totally untolerated.
Set back in the early 1600’s, it ventures through Paris, Amsterdam and across to the Canary Islands.
Louise is a highly likeable, measured and strong woman. I am unsure if I was as convinced by Gilles, a woman who has since a young girl needed to be seen as a boy, now grown up living as and dressing like a man. He is however a loyal, reserved, capable and intelligent person.
I read this as a stand-alone book and it worked well enough as that. It did start slowly and perhaps at times lacked strong appeal and fascination so I wasn’t chomping at the bit to pick it back up to read, but it did grow on me. The latter part of the book was most compelling with a bit more drama, battles at sea and in court. It was an interesting take on a woman leading in a man’s world and all the politics that this entails.

I was sent a copy of The Ghost Ship by Kate Mosse to read and review by NetGalley. This is the third book in the Burning Chambers series. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, even more than the previous two! It concerns previous protagonist Minou’s granddaughter Louise who had an inherent love for and affinity with the sea. Beautifully written, the characters are vivid and believable and the descriptions of the various locations and historical aspects are thorough and descriptive. This is a novel that is both thrilling and sensitive, romantic and brutal – one that you can really get your teeth into. I, for one, couldn’t put it down! Fantastic to have such a strong, brave female protagonist and to set much of the tale at sea was genius, adding a very different dimension. Read and enjoy!

After the Burning Chambers and The City of Tears, The Ghost Ship is the third part of the story that started when Minou Joubert was nineteen in 1562. In this third book, we follow the steps of Minou’s granddaughter Louise in the early 1600s. Louise has had a troubled childhood and this has made her into a strong, independent and courageous young woman. As owner and later captain of her ship, she leads a very unconventional life for a woman of her time in many ways, but I will give no spoilers here … She is a woman who lives in a man’s world, at sea and being a pirate, righting the wrongs that slave traders are committing around the Canaries.
As usual, Kate Mosse has researched her topic well and offers a novel rich in historical background. She also finds a prominent place in history for a woman, highlighting how this would have been such an incredible situation at the time. The story of Louise’s adventures is immersive and imaginative. The ending leaves a door open for a next book, and I hope it comes because I would definitely like to find out more about the life of Louise after she leaves the Canaries.
So we will be patient till the next book. This third book can be read on its own if that’s the first one you read, but you will find yourself drawn to the others so maybe best to start from the beginning and read the whole series.
Kate Mosse is an incredible writer of historical fiction. In a recent interview, she said “Obviously I write historical fiction, but the history has to be spot on. Your readers need to trust that you’ve got it right, that they are in safe hands, that I know what I’m talking about.” And that’s exactly what she does and why I always enjoy her novels. A really excellent read.

The Ghost Ship is the 3rd book in the Burning Chambers/Joubert Chronicles. It feels like a slight departure from previous Kate Mosse books, as a large chunk of the story takes place at sea. It allows for a book that feels fresh and different from the previous books in the series, while at the same time still feeling like a continuation of what came before.

As ever, Kate Mosse’s writing is just a delight to read. Her passion for France and its history just bleeds from each and every page, and never fails to completely suck me into the past.

The only thing that felt off with the book was the role of Louise as the ‘pirate captain’. I just felt like it didn’t work. In an age where women weren’t really even allowed on a ship, let alone be allowed to captain one, her speedy rise to Captain just didn’t feel believable.

That being said it in no way takes anything from the book. I cant wait for book 4.

The Ghost Ship is sad, glorious, terrifying and wonderful — a must read if you enjoy historical fiction. This is the third in the Huguenot diaspora series, the Joubert Family Chronicles, and I loved being immersed once again in Minou and Piet’s family, this time in their granddaughter, Louise’s, exploits in the 1600s. This is an epic tale that takes readers from Europe to Las Islas Afortunadas and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and finally to the Cape of Good Hope. Much of the story takes place on the high seas It is a sweeping adventure, full of intrigue. It’s a story of murder and mayhem, inheritances and false accusations, piracy and ghost ships and the hideous machinations of evil men. It’s also a wonderful love story.
Kate Mosse writes strong, likeable female characters who defy the accepted order by being thoroughly independent and refusing to bow to subservient strictures. Louise is not interested in leading the life expected of upper class women of her day, either in Amsterdam (her birthplace), Carcassonne (so adored by her grandmother Minou), nor in La Rochelle (a haven for the Huguenots persecuted in Catholic France). Her heart belongs to the ocean and she longs to command ships. Like her brave women predecessors, she is guided by a strong moral compass.
The Ghost Ship is peopled by the most wonderful characters, including Gilles, abused as a child, but now making the most of the opportunities Louise has given him. And then there are the worst of humankind, such as Gilles’ mother and step father, or the awful captain Joost.
This is a deep, thought-provoking and fairly lengthy novel. Highly recommended.