A Pirate's Life for She: Swashbuckling Women Through the Ages

Description

Age range 12+ Pirates are a perennially popular subject, depicted often in songs, stories, and Halloween costumes. Yet the truth about pirates - who they were, why they went to sea, and what their lives were really like - is seldom a part of the conversation. In this Seven Seas history of the world's female buccaneers, A Pirate's Life for She tells the story of sixteen women who through the ages sailed alongside - and sometimes in command of - their male counterparts. These women came from all walks of life but had one thing in common: a desire for freedom. History has largely ignored these female swashbucklers, until now. Author Laura Sook Duncombe also looks beyond the fact that these women are not easy heroines: they are lawbreakers. Rather than defend their illegal actions, A Pirate's Life for She tells their full stories, focusing on the reasons why these women became pirates.

Laura Sook Duncombe is an author, lawyer, and feminist who enjoys Star Wars, Broadway, and Sherlock Holmes (when she's not out pirating). She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and sons.

"A thought-provoking treatise on charting one's destiny without societal constrictions." -- Kirkus Reviews "In A Pirate's Life for She Laura Sook Duncombe succeeds again in her quest to balance the books of pirate history by showing that women were indeed as capable as men in militant seafaring and piratical enterprise." Benerson Little, author of The Golden Age of Piracy: The Truth Behind Pirate Myths "Girls who read A Pirate's Life for She get to peek into the less conventional lives of some historical women led, when piracy offered a way out of the constraints of their times." Daphne Olive, host of Fathoms Deep , a Black Sails podcast " A Pirate's Life for She is a book full of incredible tales, rich history, and personal pathos. The author has succeeded in every way at capturing what it means to fight for our lives as women...and thereby feel like a bit of a pirate. What a fantastic swashbuckling feminist collection of important adventures." Lyndsay Faye, author of Jane Steele "This informative YA companion to 2017's Pirate Woman will resonate with readers who are already interested in the subject of pirates throughout history." School Library Journal Online