Synopsis; Nancy has always been a wild girl, running and playing in Bristol Docks and being left to do as she pleases. When her father remarries she is forced to become a lady although she still rebels on the subject of who she should marry. But then Nancy’s father dies and she finds herself on a journey to the Caribbean, one which will lead her to family secrets, mortal danger and most importantly Minerva. Together they set out on even greater adventures as pirates!

Review: This is swashbuckling stuff. Nancy Kington is a true literary heroine: boyish in her play and at odds with a society demanding corsets and gentility. Minerva too, fits a character type – albeit a newer one – a proud, strong black woman; a ‘warrior’. This type may jar a little on occasion because of what it demands of her but then this is a tale of gloriously detailed storybook stereotypes: the dark haired demonic villain, a young girl whose father and sweetheart have left her to the fate of treacherous family, and of course, pirates, by the ship load.

Rees doesn’t spare on violence and gruesome fables, although it is a carefully considered presentation and not graphic. Written in episodic adventures Nancy traverses the globe, following the triangle of slavery between Bristol, the Caribbean and Africa. It is interesting to engage with this subject through the white liberal eyes of the time. The horror is never shied away from but the story skirts the peripheries of the terrible actuality. Pirating offers the white and mixed race girls escape from their varying constraints. Indeed, so liberated is Nancy that she takes the radical step of writing – that other rebellious activity for a lady, one not always accessible to slaves. An enjoyable and very visual read where physical, spiritual and sexual threat are introduced appropriately and thrillingly to a younger audience. This will buckle the swash of confident and able readers, but may equally be enjoyed by listeners when read out loud.