"Saltblood" by Francesca de Tores is an enthralling dive into the depths of the human spirit amidst the vastness of the ocean. Set against the backdrop of a coastal town, this novel immerses readers in the intricate world of surf culture, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the powerful connection between humans and the sea.

De Tores skillfully crafts a narrative that follows the journey of Mia, a young woman grappling with her sense of self and her place in the world. As Mia navigates the challenges of adolescence and the complexities of her relationships, the ocean serves as both a sanctuary and a source of conflict, reflecting her internal struggles with identity and belonging.

What sets "Saltblood" apart is its vivid portrayal of surf culture and the mesmerizing allure of the ocean. De Tores captures the raw energy of the waves and the exhilaration of riding them with breathtaking prose, drawing readers into Mia's world with every crashing wave and salty breeze.

But beneath the surface of the shimmering waves lies a deeper exploration of themes that resonate on a universal level. Through Mia's journey, de Tores explores the complexities of family dynamics, the search for self-discovery, and the bonds that tie us to our past and shape our future.

The characters in "Saltblood" are richly drawn and multi-dimensional, each with their own hopes, fears, and dreams. From Mia's enigmatic grandmother to her loyal circle of friends, every character contributes to the tapestry of the story, adding depth and nuance to the narrative.

At its heart, "Saltblood" is a story about resilience and the transformative power of the ocean. De Tores captures the essence of the sea in all its beauty and danger, reminding us of the profound impact it can have on our lives.

Overall, "Saltblood" is a captivating debut novel that will appeal to readers who crave both adventure and introspection. With its vivid imagery, compelling characters, and heartfelt storytelling, Francesca de Tores has crafted a literary gem that lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @bloomsbury for letting me read this. As a huge fan of pirate stories I couldn’t wait to read this.

The book follows Mary Read's extraordinary journey, from her unconventional childhood being forced to take on the person of her brother Mark, to her daring adventures at sea and in the navy, culminating in her infamous exploits as a pirate.

The author's evocative descriptions transported me to Mary's world, filled with the sights, sounds, and even the smells 🤢 of a bygone era

Mary Read is a captivatingly complex character. Her upbringing and struggles force her to constantly navigate societal expectations. While this makes her a fascinating protagonist, it can also be a barrier to forming a warm, immediate connection.

A unique element in the story is the ever-present crow, who injects unexpected humor and wisdom, acting almost as a silent confidant who seems to understand Mary better than she understands herself

Recommended for fans of true life historical fiction, pirates and strong women.

An imaginative fictional account of the life of famous pirate Mary Read, intertwining fact and fiction into a rich story.

Through the eyes of Mary from beginning to end we get to see the multi layered life they led during the golden age of piracy. With sexuality and gender being at the forefront, it leads them down many paths.

The pacing could be choppy, slow in places and gone all too quickly in others.
But this was all together interesting, immersive and heart breaking.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher 4/5 ⭐️

I deeply enjoyed this fictional retelling of the life of Mary Read. de Torres' mastery of prose is second to none. She succinctly captures scenes and characters in a way that is not overly flowery but precise. I found myself truly being able to envisage the sights, sounds, and smells of certain parts of the novel (However, not all of the scenes I smelt thankfully, I imagine the smells of army and navy would not lend itself to some light reading).

Our protagonist, although some may call them reserved, bore so much emotion through their choices and their actions if not their words. The character development was great and realistic. I found all aspects of the story scintillating, from our protagonist's early life, to their career, and then through piracy. I found it hard to put down.

This book is a great read with themes of gender, LGBTQIA history and the human experience.

A great story will provoke something inside of you, and I am now very curious about the history of pirates and the sea.

This book was well-researched and I commend the author for her research and retelling. Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read this ARC.

From the first paragraph I was hooked on this brilliant telling of Mary Read's story, weaving the vague facts of historical record that we know for sure, and the mythologies along with some imaginings entirely of De Tores own story [you can literally never go wrong with a crow companion].

Getting the story from Mary's point-of-view, and her musings on gender and sexuality within her very queer life, meant that i was devoted to my favourite pirate to the last.

TW: death (of parent/partner/child/stillbirth), violence, attempted r*pe, murder, blood, sexism

I had high hopes for this one as I enjoy reading about pirates, and the more rooted in history the story is, the better! I knew the names of Mary Read and Anne Bonny so I was excited to watch these real women come to life.

I enjoyed the historical setting and the level of research that went into this, from descriptions of Mary's life before she went to sea, to the acting of sailing itself and the references to conflict happening at the time. I think it also handles themes of gender identity, gender roles and sexuality really well, so that added another layer to the narrative and kept me reading. There were fleshed out characters throughout, which I liked and wished we'd spent more time with.

Despite written from Mary's first-person POV, I never felt connected to her or particularly impacted by anything she went through. Lots of people die in this but I can't remember any of their names. I couldn't tell you much about Mary either - what does she enjoy other than being at sea? Despite there being lots of action throughout, with Mary as a key player in most scenes, she still reads like someone observing the goings on around her. I thought this would change once she met Anne Bonny, but again I found Mary's character lacking of emotion.

Maybe the Golden Age of Piracy wasn't as fun as I like to imagine and maybe I need to find my pirate fix elsewhere, rather than this historical biography-esque novel that read too matter-of-factly. You'll enjoy this novel if you prefer tales rooted in history without need for sensationalisation. For a real swashbuckling adventure, I'd recommend The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review

This historical fiction follows the life of Mary Read, in her point of view. This is a focus of Mary's life from birth to death, of all the experiences that led up to them becoming the infamous pirate and beyond. This book is exciting, yet at times is extremely heart-breaking. You can't help but root for Mary and their love for the sea. It's a unique book and I already love the author and I hope they write more books.

Although I love anything and everything involving pirates, I was still surprised by how thoroughly I enjoyed this sketch of Mary Read’s life from disguised daughter to sailor to wife to pirate. It keeps faithfully to the facts, yet historical records leave plenty of room for De Tores’ vivid imagination to fill the gaps in the map of Mary’s life. Packed with adventure, trials, and heartache, my favourite thing by far was the discussion around gender and sexuality. This is somewhat unavoidable given the history of Mary Read, but what surprised me was just how much depth and care went into her portrayal as existing outside of gender, as a third thing yet to be named. Throughout the book, as she shifts across the gender binary as needs must, it is never up for dispute that Mary is not a man or a woman, only treated as such by her peers. Throughout the telling of her life, the pacing never slowed, only lingered on moments that needed more telling and skirted over those less significant. Every twist and loss had me on the edge of my seat, rooting for Mary even though I already knew how it would all end, which is surely the mark of a great story.

This is a fictional account of the life of Mary Reid, one of the only documented woman pirates during the age of golden piracy. A woman who lived her live with no regrets, who seized her opportunities, created choices and chose whatever felt right to her. She has my admiration.
We meet her just before her death, when a reverend is trying to entreat her to make her final testament so that she can be absolved from her sins. Mary refuses, suspecting that he just wants a good story to sell. Once he has been dismissed, the reader has the privilege to listen to Mary herself telling the story of her life – so it is ultimately up to us to judge or to absolve.

‘Mine is not a small life’, she recons. Being brought up as a boy, she worked as a footman in her early teenage years, then joined the navy and later fought as a soldier in the army always disguising her true identity. The one soldier that recognised the woman in her she falls in love with. They get married and for a few years she leads the conventional life of a wife, helping her husband to run a pub. When her husband dies, she realises how small and narrow her world has become. Living for so many years as a man has taught her to take up space differently and she yearns for the freedom to jostle for it again. Only this time, she does not fear anymore to be exposed as a woman, she dares to be both and neither. She has total trust in her body and an instinctive understanding of her own self, which does not need affirmation from anyone. She joins the merchant navy as a woman and when opportunity knocks, she switches sides and enjoys her life as a pirate. In her dying moments she reflects: ‘Such days that I was granted, they were mine’. I can’t think of a sentiment giving greater expression to a fulfilled life.

I loved the book and its heroine – for me it was the perfect mix of facts and myths, woven into a wonderful adventurous yarn.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Salt blood was a unique read. The story is very gripping and wow the ending is a big surprise. I thoroughly recommend this book, another thrilling read by this talented author

4 stars

This historical fiction follows the life of Mary Read, in her point of view. This is a focus of Mary's life from birth to death, of all the experiences that led up to them becoming the infamous pirate and beyond. This book is exciting, yet at times is extremely heart-breaking. You can't help but root for Mary and their love for the sea.

I really was engrossed in the reflections on identity; who she is and what she is in terms of sex and gender and the different life experiences that contributed to Mary finding out who they are and what they want. Not to be tied down by the expectations of social/religious norms of the time.

Although I do not know extensively much about the real life Mary's story, it is evident that a lot of research and thought was put into this telling of their story and the descriptions of the time and what piracy was in a realistic manner, not the overdramatised idea we have from films such as Pirates of the Caribbean (as much as I love it). Where the author has added their own interpretation (the ending) and the crow companion, I enjoyed how it fit with the story and Mary's reflections.

I found the pacing of the book quite uneven, with the starting chapters being very long and descriptive and the latter chapters being quick and to the point.

It has inspired me, however, to want to learn more about the famous women pirates.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A fascinating historical fiction novel (although from other reading the story of Mary Read sticks to the known facts - which I like).

Mary starts her life being passed off as a boy by her mother to ensure a continued allowance coming from her late husband's mother. Of course the allowance dues with the old lady and Mary (now Mark) goes into service in a big house followed by going to sea to see something of the world with the navy then into the army before going back to the sea and becoming a pirate.

That is a very quick sketch of Mary's life, which is enthralling. Mary wasn't the only female pirate, far from it. Nor would she have been the only woman to be in the army or the navy in the 1700s. In Mary's case, she is only one of two women in "Calico Jack" Rackham's pirate crew.

The book itself is a nice, meaty story that doesn't rush about trying to be sensationalist. It is a well researched, interesting look at life for a woman who lived life mainly on her own terms. Plus, it's a cracking adventure story that'll probably leave you as open-mouthed as it did me.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the advance review copy.

I was so excited to a book about Mary Read, one of the well-known female pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy, which is a topic that is close to my heart. However, I have to admit that during the first half of the book (before she becomes a pirate) feel to slow but reading about her backstory and the events that led to her joining the pirates was quite fascinating. an the ambiance and the whole creation of the characters and the description were a *chef kiss* for me because I could feel the setting and I could be affected by the situation This book provides a unique perspective as it is the story of Mary told from her own point of view. The character development is impressive, especially for female characters, which I find particularly enjoyable in historical fiction. Overall, I found this to be a fantastic read.

I loved this. I haven't read historical fiction in a while and was attracted to it because it was about Mary Read, one of the known female pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy, a topic close to my heart. I have to admit that for the first half of the book (until she becomes a pirate), I felt a sort of trepidation and frustration that she wasn't a pirate yet, that it was taking so long to get to the pirate bit, but reading her back story and the events that lead to her joining the pirates was fascinating.
This book is very rich in its descriptions of the times, the characters you meet, the language used has been well researched to include terms and idioms from the time period. It felt like being transported by back in time to the late 17th century, early 18th century. I was worried at times that the pirates weren't going to be depicted accurately (having researched them myself), but the author did not disapoint and it was great to see her sources at the end of the book. Thoroughly enjoyed it, might seek out more historical fiction!

This is Francesca De Tores remarkable, scintillating and imaginative take on the actual historical pirate figures of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, she is inspired by and researches their stories. It is in the form of a narrative located in the present, spanning Mary's memories and major milestones and all that made her who she is, her ground breaking life, the challenge of the gender expectations of the time, her sexual identity, and the precarious nature of the adventures set in the golden age of piracy. Mary is born in 1685, her young brother, however, is dying, pushing her mother to make the momentous decision to raise Mary as Mark, driven to do so for financial aid which will continue to be received by her.

It is not surprising that this is going to generate confusion for Mary, but she accepts the position her mother found herself in, continuing to pose as male which raise all the inevitable multilayered complexities revolving around gender roles. We follow her as she develops into an increasingly confident woman, gaining insights into her thinking and the world as she sees it, shifting and changing life paths, as she takes a position with a French widow, and with the war, bravely joins the navy, followed by the army with all the risks this entails, getting married, having a child, but the sea is in her blood, as she once again reverts to being a man, and a pirate in the Caribbean with Anne Bonny.

There is a compulsive and captivating quality to the skilfully drawn character of Mary, the author breathes vibrant life into who she is and her developments, living amongst the historical turbulence of the time, that had me deeply immersed in the storytelling, even whilst being aware of where it is all going and how it all ends. The is a thought provoking, engaging and beautifully written book, with rich descriptions of the historical period and the major events and issues of the day that loom large in the background of Mary's adventurous life, with its exploration of gender, sexual identity, and more. Highly recommended to readers of historical fiction and others interested in Mary, gender, and, of course, piracy! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This is a fascinating, beautifully written tale told from the perspective of Mary Read. It takes us through the rollercoaster of her incredible life as she seeks and finds one adventure after another, never being shy of a challenge! She is quite happy to switch her persona to fit the circumstances whilst we meet some incredible, vividly portrayed characters along the way. Although I felt that the pace dipped a little in the middle of the book, overall it was an excellent read thank you!

She doesn’t think she’s brave, bold or exceptional but, oh my, what a woman. I loved the retelling of the unconventional life of Mary Read, particularly the non-pirate years. But, there is no doubt, the sea runs through her veins. The wind in the sails gives her breath. Life on the waves animates her, enables her to become her hidden self.

Animated and engaging throughout this is the story of an exceptional life, with its many twists and turns, expertly told.

To be recommended.

This wasn’t at all what I was expecting it to be but I’m not sure that’s necessarily a bad thing. The book follows the tale of Mary, a young woman who is raised in her brothers name and later becomes a pirate.

It’s a very character driven book and doesn’t contain nearly as much piracy as I was expecting given the blurb and cover.

Overall an enjoyable read and great for lovers of historical fiction but probably not one I’d come back to.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow in places, as fictional biographies can be. And I was honestly waiting the whole time to get to the pirate bit. But I liked the voice a lot and the character was interesting.

I liked the exploration of gender. It was really interesting how the author chose to portray Mary Read’s gender. It’s difficult with historical characters to put labels on them, as the labels wouldn’t exist at the time. But I think De Tores did a good job of showing someone who doesn’t fit in gender without giving it a modern label. (I would probably label it as agender if I had to, but I really don’t think a label was necessary).

I liked the crow. It really added to the image of Mary as this fearless pirate who doesn’t care about your rules. Even though Crow came a bit before she became a pirate. I felt it was a nice addition to the historical character who unfortunately didn’t have a crow companion.

I think this book is a great book to read to explore LGBTQ+ themes. It also gives a good view of piracy at the time.

Based on the stories of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, Saltblood is a fictional account of their lives, using as much documentation as was available to the author.
It begins with Mary's birth in a rented room near Plymouth in 1685. As Mary is born, her young brother lies dying and her mother makes a calculated decision - to bring up Mary as Mark in order to continue to receive financial help from her mother-in-law.
At times Mary is conflicted by male/female role but as she gets older and understands her mother's reasons she goes along with the ruse. She takes employment in the house of a French widow as a footman, where she is accepted as Mark. When the country goes to war, Mary leaves the house and follows her calling, signing on in the navy where she must guard her secret even more carefully less it is discovered she is a woman. There after, Mary joins the army, marries, has a child and leaves the Netherlands, the land of her husband, going to sea once again as a man, and ending up in the Caribbean as part of a pirate crew.
The detailed descriptions in the book of Mary's early life, and of the ships and pirate life are all fascinating and really drew me in to the story. De Tores writing style and lyrical prose, along with the way she has created a 'voice' for Mary as she looks back on her life, make the book extremely readable. Since it is based on fact rather than being fiction the end is fairly certain from the outset but the books is a journey worth being on.
This books is a 4.5 from me, as I think perhaps I'd have liked more plot and happier ending but that was never going to be. I found the historical detail wonderful and would recommend the read for that alone. I love the cover design too. Excellent.
With thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for an arc copy in return for an honest review.