1. With its hugely dramatic death-by-drowning opening scene and irresistibly involving first person narration it is impossible not to be drawn into this historical romance and into the seedy seafaring, smuggling world of the 1720s. Although this book is heavy on historical detail (eg the frocks and fashions of the time) this doesn't detract from the story too much but helps you to picture what's happening in your head as Isabelle's story unfolds.   Isabelle is a feisty and fantastically powerful narrator despite her pampered life in the past, and her reactions to the poverty and hardship of the situation she finds herself in aboard ship seem realistic.  We as readers become totally caught up in her moral struggle and the way she is forced to re-examine her previous beliefs as well as in her developing romance with the mysterious ‘pirate' Will.  Their relationship also makes the reader realise what the position of women at that time was really like, how inferior they were compared to men and how little control they had over their lives.  There is so much going on in this book; action and adventure, romance, secrets, scandals and smuggling all set against a vividly realised backdrop.  We could easily read it again and look forward to reading all the other books by Marie-Louise  Jensen.

By Cramlington Learning Village, Northumberland