The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan
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3.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The Sisters Brothers meets Master and Commander in Robert Hough’s rollicking and raucous new historical novel.
The year is 1664, and Benny Wand, a young thief and board game hustler, is arrested in London for illegal gaming. Deported to the city of Port Royal, Jamaica, known as “the wickedest city on earth,” Wand is forced by his depleted circumstances to join a raid on the Spanish city of Villahermosa. The mission is a perilous success, and Wand attracts the attention of the mission’s leader, an up-and-coming Welsh seaman, Captain Henry Morgan, whose raids on Spanish strongholds are funded by the British government.
While embarking on a campaign in the Caribbean, Wand and Morgan develop an unlikely friendship through a shared love of chess. As Morgan is corrupted by his increasingly sordid attacks on Spanish cities, he slowly becomes Wand’s greatest enemy. To defeat his former ally, Wand embarks on a strategic battle of wits and must help Morgan in the most savage and unexpected way possible. This is blistering and bawdy storytelling at its best.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hough, whose 2013 novel, Dr. Brinkley's Tower, was nominated for the Governor General's Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize in Canada, creates a fictionalized account of a real-life 17th-century swashbuckler. Benjamin Wand is a chess-playing hustler deported from London to Port Royal, Jamaica. He joins the crew of the ship Pearle, captained by the Englishman Henry Morgan and tasked with loosening Spain's grip on its Caribbean territory. After a successful and treasure-rich mission, Morgan takes an interest in Wand as a chess tutor, and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship, which continues even when Morgan is appointed governor of Jamaica. Hough, a former journalist, based his text on Wand's autobiography and his own extensive research. Wand and his relationship with Morgan are fascinating, but Hough spends too much time spent incorporating tidbits from his research that slow the pace and don't serve the story. There is also a distracting difference between Wand's articulate first-person narration, possibly his older self reflecting back on his life, and his dialogue throughout the book in the voice of his illiterate, street-urchin beginnings. Wand has an intriguing life story but Hough's telling doesn't fully do it justice.
