BookBrowse Reviews The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron

BookBrowse:

A sweeping, breathless tale of survival following one woman's fight for freedom, inspired by the supposed life of a female pirate captain in the 17th century.

Our titular heroine's story begins in Yáquimo, Santo Domingo. Jacquotte Delahaye is a young mixed race woman, born to a Black Haitian mother and a white French father. After the death of her mother when she is just a child, Jacquotte is taken under the wing of a talented shipwright, where she blossoms into a master in the art of building, repairing, and sailing vessels bound for the Caribbean. Her world is shaken, however, when she discovers her father has been keeping a dark secret about their family's past.

Soon after, her hometown falls victim to a violent coup at the hands of the French, and Jacquotte is forced to seize a ship and flee to open waters with a small ragtag group of friends. Here, she begins an epic adventure that sees her join the crew of Blackhand, a brutal pirate captain. But with all the skills she needs to thrive as a successful pirate in her own right, Jacquotte soon begins to rise up the ranks, proving herself a fearsome leader and a fighter for justice.

The narrative moves at breakneck speed as Jacquotte navigates everything from battles with rival crews to deadly storms on the high seas. While this makes for a truly thrilling read that is hard to put down, the story is always full of heart, ensuring we remain invested in Jacquotte as a character. Passionate, headstrong, resilient, and fiercely loyal, she is a well-drawn protagonist who is easy to root for. The harshness of her dramatic exploits is balanced by a much gentler thread that follows Jacquotte's burgeoning love affair with another woman in her crew.

With Jacquotte very much at its core, the book becomes an ode to the importance of found family. As a mixed race queer woman operating within a treacherous, male-dominated world, Jacquotte knows what it is to face prejudice and be forced into subservience. As she begins to establish her own pirate army, she uses her newfound power to free prisoners from slaver ships and liberate abused women and girls from the port towns they visit on their journey. It is these very people, inspired by Jacquotte's resistance movement, who flock to bolster her crew, bonded by their shared desire to live on their own terms.

This results in a large cast of supporting characters that come and go. A key group of them are engaging and memorable — like Jacquotte's doctor brother, Marceau; her lover, Teresa; and Mbala, a freed slave and gentle giant who emerges as one of Jacquotte's greatest allies. With so many others to keep track of, however, some smaller characters can begin to blur together, meaning their inevitable loss to the perils of battle and life at sea fail to resonate as keenly as the author likely intended.

Still, The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye is ultimately a joy to read. As rousing and exciting as it is heartfelt, this is an immersive portrait of a life lived dangerously but with honor, and an attempt to shine the spotlight on an overlooked legend from the golden age of piracy.

This review first ran in the June 19, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.