When Mary’s older brother dies when he is just a toddler, she is raised as a boy in his place. As she grows up, she maintains the male identity and the name ‘Mark’ as she progresses into a life that occupies both land and sea. On her adventures, she meets a cast of characters, as she struggles with her identity and strive for freedom.

Based on historical events and real life female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, Saltblood is so much more. It is rich in themes: gender, identity, sexuality, love and loss. I loved learning about Mary’s story. Reading how she transitioned between the l different phases in her life seemed like folklore as she developed into who she ended up being. I also loved the tone. In amongst the excitement of Mary choosing to leave conventional life behind for one at sea, I feel like there was pragmatism in Mary’s attitude and grittiness to day-to-day life. I really enjoyed this book. As well as interesting themes and characters, I found it well written.

I particularly recommend this book for fans of well-written historical fiction and books on gender identity and LGBT fiction.

Saltblood by Francesca De Tores is a pirate story from a female perspective.

The novel begins in England where Mary lives with her mother, from there she joins the navy and her adventures at sea begin.

I have always enjoyed pirate stories but I think what makes this one better than others I have read is that it is based on real people.

Fantastic read about a female pirate I was already aware of (bonny) and a journey through Mary's unusual life, proving that women really can do anything that men can (and perhaps even better)

Little is known about the life of Mary Read, one of a pair of notorious female pirates (along with Anne Bonny) who stalked the Caribbean islands during the much-fabled Golden Age of Piracy. In Saltblood, debut author Francesca De Tores takes the scant details the historical record provides and fills in the blanks to create a riveting imagined memoir - the story Mary Read might have written down before her death in 1721.

Plotted against the seemingly never-ending wars of the 18th century, Mary's journey from service to the Royal Navy, then the army, a Flemish tavern and eventually the infamous pirates' republic of Nassau in The Bahamas, is a beautifully written, exhilarating adventure. From her fascinating beginnings - being expected to inhabit the role of Mark, her brother who died in infancy, in order to continue accruing the paltry allowance Mark's paternal grandmother provided towards his keep - every detail of Mary's life is vividly imagined and told in a convincing, compelling voice. The author captures the allure of piracy even at a distance of some three hundred years, and embeds Mary's story in a carefully researched history of piracy in the British West Indies.

Mary herself would have been uniquely positioned to reflect on the gender politics of her era, having lived as both a man and a woman at different times, and her ability to make choices about the life she would have - at a time when most women's destiny was determined for them before they even drew breath - is as resonant today as ever.

To take just a handful of accepted facts and craft them into such an exciting, moving story of love, loss and the search for a place to belong takes a true talent, and I will eagerly anticipate this author's next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

Never mind Bonney and Clyde, this most interesting and enlightening book is about Bonney and Read, two ladies from the days of piracy and the “wild west” of 1798. Centred mostly around Mary Read, an unloved child who runs away to join the Navy and then the Army and then the pirates. Mary crosses path with and becomes friends with Bonney in Nassau, even though their lives are far from similar and their attitude to life, ditto. Whilst the book is mostly fact, it is far from boring and has been stitched together to make an excellent read that is both entertaining and educating. I loved it.

Read this book in a weekend - only put it down to eat! The writing is incredible - Intriging, fascinating and the story and characters stays with you. A definate must read! The book had me at Female Pirates!!!

What a beautiful debut! Gripping and beautifully written, this is the story of a woman's journey into piracy, fascianting!

Saltblood is less about piracy and more about one woman's journey into piracy, but what a fantastic journey it is. Francesca De Tores' debut novel is brilliantly written and wholly immersive. It follows Mary Read's journey to piracy and meeting Anne Bonny. I would recommend.

Saltblood was a roller-coaster read. Although not that much is known about Mary Read, Francesca De Tores has created a believable narrative, following Mary from her birth and enforced gender disguise, to serving in the Navy and Army, and then to the decisions that lead her to meet Anne Bonny and eventually become a pirate. Outside of this riveting tale, it is a thought provoking book about women's rights, gender equality and societal expectations of women in the late 1600s and early 1700s. As a child Mary is forced by her mother to dress as her dead half-brother in order to keep an allowance from his family. This deception she chooses to repeat in adulthood in order to serve in the forces during the Spanish war and De Tores questions the effect this would have on her idea of self. It's an informative, fun adventure.

“Saltblood” by Francesca De Tores is a historical fiction that narrates the life of the famous Mary Read, one of the most popular pirates of the Golden Age. In this captivating, adventurous, pirate-themed novel, the author brings us into Mary’s life, dwelling on her early days as a boy and how she came to be a pirate in Calico Jack’s crew.

Born in 1685, Mary lives her whole adolescence as Mark— her dead step-brother— in order to get the allowance sent by the boy’s grandmother. But this identity becomes an essential part of Mary and she can’t help but adjust into this new skin she wore since her birth.
Mary embarks on a sweeping journey at sea: from the navy to the frontline; from a merchant vessel to a pirate’s ship. But most importantly, from a man to a woman again, to finally accepting that she’s both and none at the same time.

The novel is written as a report of Mary’s life. From her point of view, Mary tells her story by showing herself to the reader. Mary lives a challenging life, but she proves to be brave and smart as the story proceeds, her cleverness dictated by all the deaths and situations she had to go through.
But Mary’s story is also Mark’s. That’s not only a mere recount of a woman’s life, but it is most importantly a coming-of-age novel. Mary learns to appreciate herself for what she really is.

The author also doesn’t fail to describe women’s life during the 18th century: how they were treated and considered in such a peculiar environment. The writing style is both refined and direct: it isn’t vain speech, on the contrary, it goes straight to the point. I loved reading the ending of each chapter because it’s possible to acquire something new about Mary and her story. The author loves to use catchphrases and they did their work.

I expected to see the standardised version of pirates, the whimsical notion created by our romantic minds. Instead, De Tores prefers to stick to reality, narrating the years Mary spent on the Camila and then the William as something entirely different from what I always knew about piracy.
Pirates merely haunted ships down, robbed them and simply set them free. Don’t expect to read about glorious battles or precious treasures, you won’t find any of this.

Anne Bonny is another relevant person in Mary’s life. She’s a reckless, beautiful woman who shares with Mary a similar childhood: both of them grew up as boys. Their love story intertwines with Anne and Jack’s relationship, marking an essential period in Mary’s story. I felt Anne’s presence and strength through the pages and I enjoyed reading about her complex character.

Another interesting element in Saltblood is the symbolism the Crow embodied. This animal that follows Mary since the death of her husband can be interpreted in many different ways. In my opinion, I find it as a physical representation of death, but maybe also the portrayal of her other self.

Even though a part of the events may be romanticised, I’m fairly sure that the author stuck to Mary’s real story. If you like reading about pirates, but you also love to discover more about puzzling historical figures, then you should totally give it a chance.

Francesca De Tores has created an amazing debut novel with Saltblood.

Following Mary who is made to live her life as a boy, Mark, to receive money from her family to keep her and her mum afloat, we see how she hurries herself in a life that would otherwise be out of reach. We see Mary working in the ladies’ grounds, then onto the navy, moving to the army, and eventually being called back to the seas as a pirate.

This was unlike anything I have ever read with it being (somewhat) historically accurate. Out of each of Mary’s sections of life, I enjoyed the pirate life the most, but overall the writing put Mary’s life parallel to the sea’s. Reading about a woman belonging to the sea and only feeling at place aboard a ship was enthralling. This was further enhanced by De Tores’ writing, giving Mary no sense of man or woman, but sailor, which added to my reading experience.

The cast of characters was great, especially Mary’s friend and lover Anne who has led a similar life to Mary. Each set of characters tied to the different parts of Mary’s life complimented her journey perfectly, with the book exploring loss and grief and the ghosts that can haunt us.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for further works by this author and recommend this to those who love character-driven novels that defy the norm.

Although a bit bit of slow burner, it is well worth sticking with this book. Beautifully written and truly a masterpiece.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing, for a digital ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.

Saltblood is a fictional retelling of the life of Mary Read, a real-life female pirate who lived in the late 17th century and operated during the same era as the notorious 'Blackbeard'. Disguised as a boy by her mother in childhood, Mary continues the charade as an adult, serving in the army, the Royal Navy, and eventually becoming a pirate in the Caribbean.

Saltblood caught my attention because I had been enjoying other fictional stories about women pirates. Nevertheless, it's crucial to understand that Saltblood is not the usual swashbuckling pirate escapade. The protagonist doesn't assume the role of a pirate until the book is halfway done. Rather, it gives a fictionalised portrayal of her entire life.

From my perspective, it falls under the genre of literary fiction with an emphasis on exploring a fictionalised existence rather than following a traditional plot. It was challenging for me to engage with because it lacked plot conflict and didn't provide a true story either.

The story does effectively create a strong sense of place and time, with detailed descriptions of life aboard the ship.

'Gender' is a central theme that the author examines in the book, as mentioned in the promotional blurb. It bothers me when women from history are analysed through the perspective of modern ideologies and including gender in this book seems forced to attract specific readers.

For those that like to know the content warnings, this includes, executions, cancer, death of children,

An absolutely brilliant book about the pirate Mary Reed.who was born in 1685
It tell her life story and how a girl who was brought up as a boy by her mother kept this persona into adult life where she enlisted in the navy without any of the crew realising her identity and then went on to become a soldier in the battlefields of Flanders.
After finding love and heartbreak she was drawn back to the sea and the life of a pirate.
This is a wonderful read that especially how a woman broke all the role model rules in an era that was dominated by men

‘Saltblood’ by Francesca De Torres is the story of real life historical figure Mary Read, who is born in Plymouth in 1675 and leads a remarkable life that sees her joining the navy and the calvary, before she becomes a pirate - all as a woman pretending to be a man. What a life and what an epic book.

In order to ensure that an inheritance continues from the family of her deceased husband, Mary’s mother raises her as a boy - Mark, which is also the name of her deceased infant brother. This ‘secret’ identity continues into life as a servant and then the navy and cavalry.

In the main they call me Mary Read.

As for my true name?

Go ask the sea.

I don’t want to spoil too much of the story, just to say that the first half has a cracking pace as Mary/Mark makes her way in the world. It’s a proper page turner, her story beautifully told. The second half, while not continuing at the same breakneck speed of her earlier life, is just as compelling.

I do enjoy a good nautical book. ‘Madhouse at the End of the Earth’ by Julian Sancton was a nightmarish but compulsive read set on a ship trapped by ice in the Antartcia. ‘Saltblood’ is mostly set around the Atlantic Ocean and later in the Bahamas, and nowhere near as claustrophobic, but there’s still the small crew on board that you get to know, and it is fraught with danger.

It’s very much a book about identity - Mary lives a life as a girl, a boy, a man and eventually as a woman. And it’s about starting anew - not only does Mary slip between genders, but she reinvents herself constantly, and the sea is new each day.

‘For myself, I have long since understood myself as something altogether more spacious than the narrow port of either woman or man.’

It asks the question - what is our identity based on? What defines us as a person, and when we realise our identity is built on the shifting sands of gender/occupation/family/childhood/favourite football team/whatever you build your identity around - what are you left with when that crumbles?

It’s also about freedom - Mary dreams of a Republic of pirates, where man and woman are equal and all the riches, and love, are shared.

‘How can I make in words the sea, or the singing of the ships? Such things Iearned not through language but through my hands on the lines and my bare feet braced against the deck, my eyes squinting against the salt spray. I have swum deep, the sky a distant thing beyond the veil of the sea. What words could tell the truth of this?’

‘Saltblood’ is based on the historical figure of Mary Read, but it also made me think of another famous Irish female pirate from history, known as Gráinne Mhaol, who routed the English in the 1500’s. She’s also known to Anne Bonny in this book, who recounts how she commanded twenty galleys, and birthed a child one day before rising to fight fiercely against the Corsairs the next. I can’t imagine human resources or health and safety being too impressed with that.

Mary is great narrator, completely believable throughout. She has fierce loyalty to those around her, especially colourful characters such as Calico Jack and Anne Bonny. At times her life is a struggle for survival, and she suffers a lot of loss -it’s a life that has taught her much. It’s down to the skill of the author that you sense Mary’s growing confidence, as she becomes comfortable with who she is, especially as a pirate. She’s great company throughout.

I loved the prose in this - it has an earthy lyrical flow, crackling with wit and especially wisdom. So many beautiful descriptive passages, especially about life on the sea, and the perilous life of a pirate is vivid and vital. The storytelling is totally immersive and so well paced -my interest never flagged in this book.

And a word to for the historical research from the author (there’s a lengthy list of sources at the end) - it’s never top heavy, and blends in seamlessly with the narrative.

What a superb debut novel from Francesa De Tores, a swashbuckling adventure story that’s also about gender fluidity and identity, full of interesting characters and a fascinating narrator who lead an extraordinary life.

Given the subject matter, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a series/film already in production - it’s made for these times.

‘For years I felt myself a stowaway in my own life. But the sea has taught me this: such days as I was granted, they were mine’

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.

I absolutely couldn’t resist this retelling of the life of Mary Read - I studied both Mary and Anne at university and so was absolutely all over this. I really enjoyed that this was from the perspective of Mary rather than Anne and the story was a great historical retelling of her life.

The book was very faithful to the history of Mary and I thought it was an excellent character driven take. I liked the amount of focus given to Mary’s life pre Anne, though I did maybe expect more to have been made of the time they spent pirating together.

Overall a must for fans of feminist historical fiction - definitely offers something a bit different from the usual witchy themed feminist stories.

Excellent novel, a well plotted historical fiction that brought to different places and read about adventures and fabolous characters
Excellent storytelling and character development
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would from the blurb, it was written in a style that didn’t always appeal to me however the subject matter was really interesting. Knowing it was based on a true story made it even better for me.

A well researched, detailed, excellent read.
The writing here is amazing, especially for a debut novel! Really descriptive and detailed and such a vivid style of writing. It was very evocative in its story telling.
Our main character mary has a great many roles and we get to see her journey through these all to ultimately a pirate and her life at sea. The historical setting felt very well done, and you could tell a lot of work had been done to make it accurate to the time and exploring themes that were relevant then, but that in reality are sometimes still prevalent today. I really felt immersed in this story, and mary was such a wonderful character i felt myself needing to know what was going to happen to her next and really caring about her snd her actions. Such a page turner!!

I love that as the book goes on we get so much more depth and information on marys character only making her more appealing as the story conitnues, and id honestly recommend so highly. I dont even normally read historical fiction but enjoyed this so much!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Saltblood is the fictional version of Mary Read, a female pirate in the early part of the 18th century, a contemporary of Blackbeard and Calico Jack.

Saltblood is one of those novels is one of those novels that is hard for me as a reader and a reviewer to judge as a whole, the reason being there were times in the story that worked really well and had me captivated throughout,

However at other times the novel seemed to drag, though as a reader this could have been because i am not sure what Francesca De Tores was trying to do with the book.

Was it trying to be the story of a female pirate during its so called golden age in the Caribbean, Or was it the tale of a woman who was unsure of who she was because of the era she was born in or her upbringing.

There is another way this novel could be played as situational LGBT, although i am not sure if this was by design or accident.

This could come out if we take Mary Read who throughout the story changes public roles form being Mark or Mary depending on the role that she shows to the world.

At the start she is portrayed as her brother Mark who has passed away so her mum can keep receiving payments from his grandmother. And after her the elderly woman's death to earn money first as a servant then as a sailor or soldier.

Before becoming a women and marrying, than swapping back and forth between conventional roles for a man or woman at the time.

If this was the case just on the main character i would have said, maybe that is just the story however, while on the ship there seem to be a way of the LGBT issue being what goes on ship stays on the ship, not specifically stated this is especially the case with the ex priest on the ship.

However as this issues fitted in with the story itself it never distracted from the novel in fact it enhanced it more then either a negative or detrimental effect

While enjoying the book as a whole for me as a reader the synopsis was all about it being a tale of a pirate however it was not until the 50% mark when this became the main point of the story, and it did feel like Francesca De Tores, was never going to get to that point,

For me the novel would have worked better as a 2 book series with the books being split at the 50 percent with both sides being expanded.

So is Saltblood, worth reading I would say yes for the right reader because at the end as Francesca De Tores’s writing had me filled with emotion at the end.