Fire Sword and Sea

Riley’s exciting latest (after Island Queen) follows a young Haitian woman’s fight against slavery and her turn toward piracy. In 1675, 15-year-old Jacquotte Delahaye, the mixed-race daughter of a white Tortuga tavern owner, sets out to free a shipment of enslaved people with the help of pirate captain Michel Le Basque. When she next sees Michel two years later, Jacquotte falls for him and they marry before he heads off to attack the ships of the Mughul empire. She waits for him in vain for a few years, surviving a tragic act of violence, and flees in disguise as a man named Jacques, working as a day laborer on the docks of Petit-Goave. Determined to prove herself at sea, she joins a pirate crew as Jacques, knowing she’ll be killed if her ruse is discovered. As she works her way up from helmsman to captain on the Canopus, her resolve to lead a life of adventure sets the stage for another tragedy. Riley packs a great deal into her sweeping novel, all to memorable effect, including a gender-bending queer romance subplot and gritty action on the high seas. Fans of swashbuckling adventures will cheer. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (Jan.)