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A Novel
by Briony Cameron
Book Reviewed by:This epic, dazzling tale based on true events illuminates a woman of color's rise to power as one of the few purported female pirate captains to sail the Caribbean, and the forbidden love story that will shape the course of history.
In the tumultuous town of Yáquimo, Santo Domingo, Jacquotte Delahaye is an unknown but up-and-coming shipwright. Her dreams are bold but her ambitions are bound by the confines of her life with her self-seeking French father. When her way of life and the delicate balance of power in the town are threatened, she is forced to flee her home and become a woman on the run along with a motley crew of refugees, including a mysterious young woman named Teresa.
Jacquotte and her band become indentured servants to the infamous Blackhand, a ruthless pirate captain who rules his ship with an iron fist. As they struggle to survive his brutality, Jacquotte finds herself unable to resist Teresa despite their differences. When Blackhand hatches a dangerous scheme to steal a Portuguese shipment of jewels, Jacquotte must rely on her wits, resourcefulness, and friends to survive. But she discovers there is a grander, darker scheme of treachery at play, and she ultimately must decide what price she is willing to pay to secure a better future for them all.
An unforgettable tale told in three parts, The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye is a thrilling, buccaneering escapade filled with siege and battle, and is also a tender exploration of friendship, love, and the search for freedom and home.
Prologue
Hôpital, Saint-Domingue, January 1656
Jacquotte Delahaye was alone. The prison cell was small and dark, and the smell of brine and piss hung heavy in the humid air. It was monsoon season and rain flooded the streets. The prison was close to the sea, so close that it taunted her. Salt water dripped from the cracks in the wall and pooled at her feet, stinging her open wounds. The gash on her leg had gone green and, had she been able, she would have cut it off for fear of mortification. The jagged edges had turned black, and the exposed skin was slick with thick yellow pus. Though she could move it, the feeling had been lost there days ago.
She had no need to worry about sickness any longer. In a way, she was lucky to die a swift death. A death to be remembered. And she wanted to be remembered. For tales of her great deeds to reach the far corners of the earth, for harrowing sea shanties to be sung in her honor, and for green cabin boys to whisper at night, terrified that her ...
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...continued
Full Review
(510 words)
(Reviewed by Callum McLaughlin).
Katharine Beutner, author of Killingly
Briony Cameron's debut—a vivid account of legendary figure Jacquotte Delahaye, shipwright turned pirate of the Caribbean, and her lawbreaking chosen family—is gritty, exciting, and tender. I loved the novel's focus on queer joy in a rough world! Lillie Lainoff, author of One for All
A high-stakes, gripping adventure full of heart-pounding duels and bonds that run deeper than blood, The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye is an engrossing debut. Jacquotte and her determination to chart her own course, rather than follow the path others have set before her, will stay with readers long after the final page. Vaishnavi Patel, New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi
Thrilling, heart-pounding adventure meets thoughtful feminist history in The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye. Cameron has crafted a rare and special tale that looks upon the world with realism while leaving the reader with an enduring sense of hope. An absolutely stunning debut.
Briony Cameron's debut novel, The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye, is an imagined look at the life of a female pirate captain sailing the Caribbean in the 17th century. While some of her contemporaries, like Anne Bonny and Mary Read, have become well known, Delahaye has been largely lost to history due to a lack of reliable records. Cameron acknowledges in the foreword that the narrative required many creative liberties, given the scarcity of information available about the heroine. In fact, several scholars now dispute whether she ever existed at all.
What alleged details do we have about Jacquotte Delahaye? She was supposedly born in Saint-Dominique in 1630, the daughter of a Haitian mother and a French father. Her mother is believed to ...
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