'A ravishing picaresque told with fireworks finesse and gusto' PAUL LYNCH author of Prophet
Song In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685 a daughter is born as her half-brother is
dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark and Ma will continue to collect his
inheritance money. Mary's dual existence will take her to a grand house where she'll serve a
French mistress to the navy where she'll learn who to trust and how to navigate by the stars
to the army and the battlegrounds of Flanders following her one true friend and finding love
among the bloodshed and mud. But none of this will stop her yearning for the sea. Drawn back to
the water Mary must reinvent herself yet again for a woman aboard a ship is a dangerous
thing. This time Mary will become something more dangerous than a woman. She will become a
pirate. Breathing life into the Golden Age of Piracy Saltblood is a wild adventure a treasure
trove weaving an intoxicating tale of gender and survival passion and loss journeys and
transformation through the story of Mary Read one of history's most remarkable figures.
