Historical fiction featuring Mary Read who for various reasons pretended to be her brother Mark for large portions of her life. She joins the Navy, makes a close friend, they enlist in the Army after their service ends, she meets her husband and they move to the damp lands of Europe. She ends up aboard a ship with a predatory captain and decides that piracy is the life for her! It is so well fleshed out around this, with other characters that I enjoyed getting to know. My only negative about the book was the extensive child loss references, it was understandable given the circumstances, but still unexpected and spoekn about quite harshly throughout.

3.75 stars

This is a solid historical fiction in the realm of She Who Became the Sun, following the life of Mary Read. Mary Read was disguised as a boy from childhood and enlisted in the navy and army, eventually becoming a pirate during the pirate golden age.

I was sucked into this straight away - the writing is brilliant and the characters are engaging. I was really invested in Mary/Mark's journey, and I very much enjoyed the discussions of gender identity and sexuality. I raced through the first 60%, sure this was going to be 5 stars. Unfortunately once we got well into the final half of the book, the pacing petered out and I was having to force myself to finish. It felt kind of monotonous, which was perhaps a stylistic choice because of the genre, but when you're already reading a fictionalised account of someone, you may as well make it a bit more exciting. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to historical fiction enjoyers, but it wasn't a huge hit for me.

It is sapphic tho, thank god.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having requested this, and then completely forgotten about it, I started reading and DEVOURED it in 2 days. I'm a sucker for a pirate story, and especially a woman-pirate story. This was that nice blend of historical fiction that sticks to the known facts (re: Mary Read and Anne Bonney) but with plenty of human interest added in. The book was well paced, beautifully described, with characters I cared about and plenty of adventure.

I'll definitely be looking out for more from Francesca De Tores in the future.

Saltblood is a fictional historical epic, sticking close to the known facts of the real life female pirate Mary Reed. Chronicling her life from being forced to live as a boy to save her family from ruin, to tricking the Navy into enrolling her, to spending years at sea as a pirate with the notorious Anne Bonny. I loved this book, its gritty and doesn’t shy away from the dark and truly grim things that happen, but also has such a vivid and descriptive writing style that sucks you in and leaves you desperate to find out what happens next.
This tale also brings into discussion sexuality and gender, with LQBTQIA themes running through the story. It was interesting to see Mary explore these themes within the setting and eventually find her peace with who she is and wants to be in society.
Overall Salt Blood felt very well researched and left me with a hunger to find out more about the golden age of piracy and its many fabulous and interesting characters.

A brilliant piece of historical fiction based on the lives of Mary Read and Anne Bonny,
Mary is a brilliantly fierce character and her internal monologue is excellently written.
It’s a thoughtful book, gripping and brilliantly written.

This historical fiction novel is a standout, inspired by true stories of female pirates and centered on Mary Reeve. The writing is excellent, with unflinching depictions of brutal battles and a nuanced portrayal of gender fluidity and diverse forms of love. The dynamic portrayal of the sea and port towns enhances the story's pace and atmosphere.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Sorry, too long no couldn’t get into it. Nothing really grabbed me. Such a shame. I had to give up half way through. Something rarely do!

I'm a big fan of pirate stories, so I was really intrigued by this reimaging of the life of real-life pirate Mary Read.

De Tores does a great job of making Mary into a fully realised, believable woman, while giving us snippets and cameos from other well-known historical figures that cross her path such as Anne Bonny, Jack Rackam, Charles Vane, and Edward Teach (Black Sails and Our Flag Means Death fans will enjoy playing Spot the Character).

The story gets off to a rather slow start and, to be honest, stays pretty slow-paced throughout. It took me a while to really find myself immersed in the story, but I think it was ultimately a good choice as I had time to really come to feel like I knew Mary, and had been through the various stages of her life with her, and could understand how the different challenges and personas contributed to the person she becomes. I will say, as a heads up, that the 'piracy' aspect doesn't really kick of until around the halfway mark.

A vivid painting of the Golden Age of Piracy and a careful, considered take on a famous historical figure.

Prepare to be boarded: strap in for this swashbuckling adventure set in the Golden Age of piracy, which tells the tale of Mary Reed, arguably one of the most notorious pirates who ever sailed the seas and certainly one of the most famous women to do so. de Tores has sifted through the tattered rags of Mary’s known history and carried out an extraordinary amount of additional research: the result is this fantastic historical fiction debut which turns the spotlight on the astonishing life of this seventeenth-century legend. The book opens in 1685, when Mary is born just as her young half-brother Mark is dying – an opportunity which allows her impoverished mother to disguise her new baby girl as her brother, and continue to receive support from Mark’s wealthy paternal grandmother. Life as Mary would involve physical labour, probable marriage, unavoidable child-rearing and probably death from exhaustion at a comparatively young age – but as young Mark, Mary is suddenly free to explore the world. He gains employment as a footman in service to a young French noblewoman, where he learns how to conceal his sex and pass unseen through society – before escaping to the Navy, when Mark picks up his seafaring skills and falls in love with the possibilities of the open ocean. He enlists in the army, and fights in the Flanders battlefields, but in the bloody turbulence of war it is not long before Mark’s true identity is unmasked. Widowed, bereaved, homeless, Mary takes to the sea again as neither man, nor woman – but as a pirate. This is a gripping read with truly unforgettable characterisation: Mary’s determined code-switching and sparse yet deeply thoughtful assessment of her fluid sexuality, her outward identity and her life choices is almost poetic in places, as she arrives at her unabashedly truest self – and the beautifully descriptive passages of life aboard deck will transport you to a creaking wooden vessel sailing through the still waters of a Caribbean dawn. This novel is a treasure not to be missed: add it to your to-read pile immediately.

Reviewed in Cambridge Edition June 2024 - print magazine and online linked below

I did not know what to expect going into this book but what I found was the most extraordinary adventures of the most clever woman. Loved it!

Ship Ahoy! Let’s set sail for high seas. Saltblood tells the story of the pirate Mary Read. We follow Mary from being bought up as her dead baby brother, to service in a big country house, aboard a Royal Navy ship, to the Army, a tavern in Flanders, aboard a merchant ship before we get to pirates in the Caribbean. All the while a crow follows her. Much, much better than the Pirates of the Caribbean.

"Tell me your crow name. Tell me the name you will wear to the bottom of the sea. Tell me the name shaped to fit every part of you, instep and underarm and the exact curve of your ear. Tell me the name you hear someone calling in a dream, and wake with your mouth already open to reply. Tell the name that the crows would say, black-voiced, because everybody knows a crow cannot lie.

I've had so many names - some were given to me, and some I took. Each of them was a lie, big or small. The wrong name, or the wrong form, or the wrong time. Sometimes all three

In the main, they call me Mary Read. If I am to be remembered at all, it will likely be by that name.

As for my true name? Go ask the sea."

Saltblood is one of the best fictionalised accounts of true events I have ever read, it was well-researched without being bogged down by facts. It reminded me a little of Alias Grace in terms of the writing style and the way it gives voice to the voiceless. I was surprised to see that this was written by a debut author, just because the narrative voice was so strong.

Gender identity features heavily in Saltblood, as does the question of what makes something a woman's role and what makes it a man's.

Mary Read is the unnusual protagonist of the story, Mary was born whilst her half-brother Mark lay dying. Mark's father left them when he was a baby and his parents had been sending money to help raise him ever since. Fearful of losing the money her mother decides that Mary must be raised as Mark, her mother's decision to raise her a a boy has a profound impact on the course her life will take.

As a teen Mary/Mark is sent into service as a footman, from there she joins the navy and army, and then finally becomes a pirate on the high seas. It is this last adventure that made her infamous - a female priate.

One of the best bits about Saltblood is the little observations made throughout the book, what it is to be a woman, what it is to be a man, and how those differ.

"I have seen how a woman will shrink from the bodies of those she must squeeze past. A man crossing the same place will shoulder them aside, or if he's more gently inclined, put his hand on the small of a woman's back to ease her out the way."

Mary may be ambigious about her gender identity but one thing that remains constant is her love of the sea, first and foremost she is a sailor.

"Saltblooded, wholehearted, I choose the sea."

It is in the pirate republic of Nassau that Mary begins to know herself and allow others to see her as she truly is. Her relationship with Anne serves to exemplify the vast difference between how she acts and how a woman at the time, even one who is not well regarded, is likely to act.

"She is so fiercely a woman, while I remain something else."

The author guides the reader into seeing that in a life that hasn't offered her many choices piracy offers her a sense of agency and a choice in how she is seen.

"For years I feared being exposed for what I truly am. It is still a new thing to dare to believe that what I truly am is this: both and neither."

A fabulous tale.

I DNFed this one after about 55 pages.

I'm always a bit hit and miss when it comes to historical fiction, but I was hoping this was going to be a hit. While the writing is beautiful and the setting is really vivid, I was really struggling to connect with the story and the characters. I am hoping to go back to it at another time and give it another whirl as De Tores' writing is really, really stunning and I very much want to love it.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

When I picked up Saltblood, I was expecting a romp through the world of piracy in the eighteenth century. What I got was quieter and more introspective, but perhaps better. Mary doesn't even become a pirate until halfway through the novel and is only officially a pirate for a few years, but her entire history is worth knowing. De Tores does a great job of taking the few known bits of Read's biography and transforming them into a believeable life. I particularly enjoyed the section with Anne Bonny and her contrast with Mary, and Mary's time in the army. A great bit of feminist historical fiction.

A five star read. For the full review go to https://www.tumblr.com/joebloggshere/753780500309688320/saltblood-by-francesca-de-tores-what-a-surprise

Today, it may seem obvious to us (despite the boorish backlash of the patriarchy) that a woman can take up any profession she wants, but once upon a time, this was not the case and women who, by inclination, necessity or other instances in life, took a leading role in a purely male world were very few and followed by a stigma. So many passed themselves off as men and their secret was often only discovered at the moment of dressing the mortal remains. Saltblood is the fictional biography of two of these women, who grew up as boys for different reasons, and met, of all places, in Nassau, the capital of piracy. Based on facts from the proceedings of the trial of the pirate crew they were part of, the figures of Mary Read and Anne Bonny emerge powerfully, well-rounded figures capable of being extremely feminine and at the same time occupying the space around them as only males were, and to some extent still are, allowed to do.
The narrative, presented from Mary's point of view on her deathbed, is fluid and moving, so much so that it is really hard to tear oneself away from it.

If you're looking for a high-stakes, sea-faring, pirate-packed adventure, this is probably not the book for you...

Saltblood is a fictionalised memoir of the life of Mary Read, a renowned 18th century pirate who associated with the likes of Blackbeard and Calico Jack. From the outset, the vast amount of time and care De Tores has dedicated to thoroughly researching what little is known of Read is evident. This knowledge, woven seamlessly within the lyrical, evocative prose, creates a rich and immersive depiction of life on both land and sea in the 1700s.

With that being said, this novel is not without fault.

While the writing itself was beautiful throughout, the first-person narrative felt monotonic and lacking in any emotion, and therefore, when huge and seemingly life-altering events occurred, the impact of these on Mary and those around her was somewhat lost. In terms of pacing, the plot seemed to move quickly and slowly simultaneously, such that, although we follow Mary across the world and through many crucial moments, the aforementioned lack of impact left me with a continuous sense that I was waiting for something that never really arrived.

Though De Tores tackles important themes that I'm often drawn to within stories, such as gender, sexuality, and identity, some of the ways that they were explored within this novel felt repetitive, and lacked depth. For example, within the first few chapters, I lost count of the number of times she described Mary as having a "secret" or being good at keeping "secrets" when referring to Mary posing as a boy during her childhood. In later parts of the book, many observations related to these themes were simply stated, and their impact on Mary and her life were not as thoroughly fleshed out as I would have liked, but that may just be personal preference.

To conclude, it's not necessarily that I didn't like Saltblood - there were many elements that worked well, particularly the inclusion of Crow within the latter half - but there wasn't really anything that made me love it.

I had the pleasure of being allowed early access to this book as an EARC - thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this! This is the fictionalised (though true to what historical records there are!) account of Mary Read, one of the only two female pirates documented during the ‘golden age of piracy’.

Mary is the second born child of a poor woman in Plymouth, England - and when her slightly older brother dies not long after she is born, her mother has Mary take on his identity, being known and raised as Mark. After joining the Navy, she finds a love of the sea, and this novel is as much an adventure into seafaring life as it is into gender roles and expectations.

I don’t want to say too much and spoil it - I knew very little going into this book and found it really enjoyable. But I had no idea this was a debut - it’s so adventurous and gorgeously written. The rendering of settings is so convincing, and the characters, although unlikeable and flawed, were also loveable - I was fully invested.

Overall, I’m giving this 4.5 stars. I’d highly recommend this if you’re a fan of historical fiction!

An enjoyable true read about Mary Read. She tackled a difficult beginning, and life, to become a pirate. The story is great but for me was a little long. All the better for being a true story though.
Thanks to Netgalley for the preview copy.

📚 review 📚
saltblood - francesca de tores

look this book had me at “historical fiction about mary read” - frankly i came for the gay lady pirates and i stayed because this was a good time.

so just to clarify - this is based on the true story of mary read one of britain’s most fearless pirates who was active during the golden age of piracy. not only was she a pirate but she also posed as a boy and served in the navy and the army so you know - mary read is a certified bad ass. though de tores does say that parts of this book are more heavily fiction than they are historical it doesn’t take away from read’s incredible life story. another thing that is incredible? this is a debut!
for a first book, this is exceptionally well paced, full of beautiful phrases and of course some amazing characters. it is told almost like a death bed confession and from the moment mary came screaming into the world i was hooked. this is definitely a contender for book of the year for me - i expect great things to come from francesca de tores in the future!
thank you @netgalley for the early copy - saltblood is out now.
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