The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Posted by Michelle on March 27, 2008
Jamaica, 1946. Errol Flynn washes up on the island in the Zaca, his storm-wrecked yacht. Ida Joseph, the teenaged daughter of a Port Antonio Justice of the Peace, is intrigued to learn that the ‘World’s Handsomest Man’ is on the island, and makes it her business to meet him.
For the jaded swashbuckler, Jamaica is a tropical paradise that offers the tang of adventure and the promise of personal salvation: a freshness that Ida, unfazed as she is by his celebrity, seems to share. Soon Flynn has made a home for himself on Navy Island where he entertains the cream of Hollywood – and Ida has set her heart on this charismatic older man. Ida’s child, May, will meet her famous father only once.
From ReadingCircle.co.uk
Although the title refers to May, the daughter, this story is very much the story of both mother and daughter. It begins with Ida as a teenager, meeting and falling for Errol.. a love that never leaves her.
I initially had reservations about using a real famous person in a fiction book, but it does work. Errol is obviously important, and I did find myself looking him up, to see how realistic his character was, but he’s not a central character, and this helps. Once past the initial part of the story, there is so much more to keep you interested.
Whilst reading, the book seems to move at a fairly comfortable pace, but at the same time, I often found myself wanting ‘just one more chapter’. I carried this one around, just so I could dip into in my spare minutes. It’s the type of book that you get caught up in before you realise it’s happened.
The majority of the story is set in Jamaica, during a period of unrest – the history is quietly presented.. enough to give an insight, without distracting from the real story.
It also deals with racism from a slightly different angle.. because of May’s mixed background, she never feels completely accepted, as she feels neither ‘coloured’ or white. This leads to May feeling an outsider.. a feeling I’m sure many feel at some point at their lives.
This is an entertaining, spell-binding tale, which would make a perfect holiday read.
