Bloody Jack
Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber, Ship's Boy
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- 39,00 kr
Publisher Description
Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas.
There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she will have to use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret. This could be the adventure of her life--if only she doesn't get caught. . . .
Girl Disguised as a Boy: Jacky Faber must keep her wits about her—and her secret hidden—as she navigates the rough-and-tumble world of a British warship.Young Adult Historical Fiction: Step back into the gritty streets of eighteenth-century London and the treacherous high seas in a meticulously researched coming-of-age story.Action-Packed Adventure: From chasing down pirates to surviving the dangers of life at sea, this story is filled with thrilling action and narrow escapes.Strong Female Character: Resourceful, courageous, and fiercely independent, Jacky is a heroine readers will root for as she fights for her place in a man’s world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"I prays for deliverance," confides Mary Faber, orphaned at eight years old by a pestilence that relegates her to a life of begging and petty crime on the streets of London. After her gang's leader is killed, she dons his clothing, trading in the name Mary for Jack, and takes to the high seas aboard the HMS Dolphin. Meyer evokes life in the 18th-century Royal Navy with Dickensian flair. He seamlessly weaves into Jacky's first-person account a wealth of historical and nautical detail at a time when pirates terrorized the oceans. Interspersed are humorous asides about her ongoing struggle to maintain "The Deception" (she fashions herself a codpiece and emulates the "shake-and-wiggle action" of the other boys when pretending to use the head, for instance), she earns her titular nickname in a clash with pirates and survives a brief stretch as a castaway before her true identity is discovered (the book ends as she's about to be shipped off to a school for young ladies in Boston). The narrative's dialect occasionally falters, but this detracts only slightly from the descriptive prose ("He's got muscles like a horse and looks to have a brain to match") and not at all from the engine driving this sprawling yarn: the spirited heroine's wholly engaging voice. Her budding sexuality (which leads to a somewhat flawed plotline involving a secret shipboard romance) and a near-rape by a seaman mark this one for older readers, who will find the salty tale a rattling good read. Ages 12-up.
