09/04/2023
Howe (The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane) brings the world of 18th-century pirates to life in this bracing outing. In 1726 Boston, 17-year-old Hannah Masury flees indentured servitude with Billy Chandler, a boy who’s hiding from the privateers he betrayed to the law to save himself. After Billy’s caught and killed, Hannah assumes his identity and boards another pirate ship, where ruthless Ned Low takes command in a grisly mutiny that sees him cut off the previous captain’s lips and feed them to a dog. Unnerved by Ned’s brutality, Hannah pretends to be his “unquestioning shipmate” until she has a chance to flee. In a parallel narrative set in the 1920s, Radcliffe College student Kay Lonergan discovers Hannah’s journal in a basement on campus; in it, Hannah hints at the location of a buried treasure in the Carribean region. Kay’s professor Marian Beresford has her doubts about the journal’s authenticity, but after Marian mentions it to her father, John, a famous explorer, he offers to fund an expedition to search for the treasure. As the Beresfords travel with Kay to the Florida Keys and Kay’s excitement draws interest from the press, Marian worries she’ll be the one discredited if the journal turns out to be a fake. Hannah’s adventures are riveting, and Howe manages to connect the parallel stories by highlighting how her women protagonists navigate the whims of powerful men. Historical fiction fans will love this. (Nov.)This review has been updated with further information.
Named a best historical fiction book of 2023 by CrimeReads
Named a best historical fiction book of Fall 2023 by BookBub
"A wildly adventurous, swashbuckling tale of pirates, A True Account is a fast-paced, rollicking story with an extraordinary twist. Katherine Howe breathes new life into the Golden Age of Piracy with astuteness and elaborate detail–– her characters don’t just come alive but spin off the page. You will love it as much as I did."
—Anderson Cooper, New York Times bestselling author of Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty
"A dazzlingly fun historical fiction... History buffs will appreciate the accurate inclusion of figures such as pirate William Fly and Puritan preacher Cotton Mather. Those who aren’t so thrilled about history will enjoy Hannah’s wry take on the happenings of the early 1700s.... a wild voyage of satisfying twists and an even more satisfying ending. The story ties threads of fact and fiction into an intricate knot that’s just as enjoyable to look at as it is to untangle."
—Donna Edwards, AP
"Howe’s bloody and brutal writing immerses readers in a uniquely violent but totally thrilling era."
—Alice Kemp-Habib, The Guardian
"There is no one I trust more with historical fiction than Katherine Howe, whose work always manages to capture not only the prosaic details of the past, but the lived experience of it."
—Molly Odintz, CrimeReads
"This sweeping, ambitious novel secures Katherine Howe’s place as one of today's best historical fiction writers. Combining a fast-paced, rollicking 18th-century story about a female pirate and a 20th-century mystery set in academia, Howe touches on identity, ambition, history, class, and culture. Filled with unexpected twists and turns, A True Account is a wild ride. I loved this book.”
—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and The Exiles
"Katherine Howe's latest is a feast for the sea-loving senses. At times, Howe's lyrical prose is so well-crafted, it reads like poetry. This is more than just a pirate's tale: it's a story of abandoning convention in favor of self-discovery and exploring the sort of freedoms only the sea can offer. Exhilarating at times and painfully poignant at others, A True Account is an adventure tale of bygone days, yet it brings to light an enduring question, especially for women: have we the bravery to do what they say we cannot do?"
—Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
"Katherine Howe has done it again. One of our most beloved writers of historical fiction returns with a superbly crafted page-turner rich with detail and featuring a brilliantly realized protagonist who will delight readers of every stripe. A True Account interlaces a suspenseful story of eighteenth-century piracy with a propulsive modern account of academic intrigue to wonderful effect. A bracing and dazzling adventure in every way."
—Bruce Holsinger, USA Today bestselling author of The Gifted School and A Burnable Book
"Hannah Masury’s pirate tale reads like a fever dream, told in a voice so authentic and with such vivid, authoritative detail, it compels belief that this must indeed be a true account. A fiendish twist pulls its strands apart and braids them back together with the burnished patina of real historic discovery. Katherine Howe writes a story that she knows so truly, it must spring from her DNA. A True Account belongs on the shelf beside Treasure Island.”
—Peter Nichols, National bestselling author of A Voyage for Madmen
"Katherine Howe richly evokes the social world of docks, ships, and seafaring outlaws, producing, in my view, one of the best 'pirate novels' ever written — even better than ones by Daniel Defoe!"
—Marcus Rediker, author of Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age
"Howe manages to connect the parallel stories by highlighting how her women protagonists navigate the whims of powerful men. Historical fiction fans will love this."
―Publishers Weekly
"Howe has created a suspenseful, swashbuckling adventure filled with fiendish characters and historical detail."
―Library Journal, Starred Review
"Sometimes deadly earnest, sometimes sharply funny, the novel explores how women thwarted by circumstances shape-shift to fit in."
―Kirkus
★ 09/01/2023
In 1726, Hannah Maury, an orphan working at a seafront Massachusetts tavern, witnesses the hanging of a pirate. Chastened by the stark reality of justice served, she encounters a young cabin boy hidden in the barn behind her house. The boy has been branded a traitor by the pirate crew and has received a "black spot" marking him for death. Hannah attempts to help him but gets drawn into danger after the pirates murder him and then threaten her. She steals the boy's boots, identity, and position on a ship set to sail. Fast-forward to 1930. Professor Marian Beresford's student has presented her with a manuscript written by Hannah, describing her voyage on the ship that turned pirate. The tale details the terror of sailing with men who have no moral compass and Hannah's constant fear of being exposed as a woman. Marian, determined to follow the clues detailed by Hannah, finds herself perilously close to losing her credibility and having her own secrets brought to light. VERDICT Howe (The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs) has created a suspenseful, swashbuckling adventure filled with fiendish characters and historic detail.—Susan Santa
Petrea Burchard channels the exhilaration and terror of eighteenth-century pirate life. In Boston in 1726, 17-year-old Hannah Masury finds herself in dire straits when she witnesses the death of a young sailor at the hands of ruthless privateers. Knowing that she must flee Boston, she disguises herself as a cabin boy aboard a pirate vessel captained by the infamous Ned Lowe. In 1930, Professor Marian Beresford is given a manuscript written by Hannah that may hold the secret to buried treasure. Burchard rousingly captures Hannah's forthright personality and courage, communicating her delight as she immerses herself in the happier parts of pirate life. Her portrayal of world-weary Marian, desperate for her father's approval and cautiously curious about the alleged treasure, resonates. S.A.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
2023-09-21
Issues of identity loom large in this tale of a female pirate whose journal becomes the research subject of a professor and her ambitious student.
Hannah Masury’s “Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates” tells a classic story: In 1726, the illiterate teenager witnesses the murder of a young sailor by pirates and knows she must flee Boston. Disguising herself as a boy named Will, she becomes cabin boy on a ship, only to find herself in the company of marauding pirates on their way to a tropical island where treasure is buried; to survive, she becomes a pirate, too. The journal’s existence proves that Hannah did survive, but is it, along with the treasure it describes, real? That’s the question Radcliffe Professor Marian Beresford tries to resolve two centuries later. Against her better judgment, and despite factual errors in Hannah’s version of history, Marian wants to believe that the journal her student Kay Lonergan has discovered is authentic. Marian finds backing for an expedition to search a crescent of islands Hannah mentions, but nothing works out as planned. Sometimes deadly earnest, sometimes sharply funny, the novel explores how women thwarted by circumstances shape-shift to fit in. Hannah, a starving girl in 18th-century Boston, finds some measure of security as a boy pirate, while Marian, a closeted 20th-century gay woman, lives with strict propriety as a spinster in Boston and occasionally escapes to the Mad Hatter, an actual gay club in 1930s New York. And obfuscating gender or sexuality is not the only tool of self-protection or -advancement the novel shows; Kay, described by Marian as "the heroine of her own imagination,” courts fame in the tabloid press with a canny mix of fact and exaggeration. In Howe's deliberately ambiguous narrative, authenticity is difficult to prove and not a clear absolute, in people or objects.
Enjoy the author's strong eye for details of time and place; skim the muddled pirate action on the high seas.
