In this stunningly creative debut filled with well-drawn charactersand smoldering passion, (Booklist) Nicole Castroman reimagines the origins of historys most infamous pirateBlackbeard.When Edward Teach Drummond, son of one of Bristols richest merchants, returns home from a year at sea, he finds his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesnt love and sick of the high society he was born into, all Teach wants is to return to the vast ocean he calls home. Theres just one problem: he must convince his father to let him leave and never come back. Following the death of her parents, Anne Barrett is left penniless. Though shes barely worked a day in her life, Anne takes a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks and Anne longs to escape the confines of her now mundane life. How will she ever achieve her dream of sailing to Curaaoher mothers birthplacewhen shes trapped in England? From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn together by a shared desire for freedom, but kept apart by Teachs father, their love is as passionate as it is forbidden. Faced with an impossible choice, Teach and Anne must decide whether to chase their dreams and leave England foreveror follow their hearts and stay together.

 

 

This book is aimed at children at US 9th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 14 years.

There are 400 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2017 by Simon & Schuster .

Nicole Castroman received her BA from Brigham Young University and has lived in Germany, Austria, and two different places called Georgia. One is the country near the Black Sea; the other is the state of Georgia where she currently lives with her husband and children. She is the author of Blackhearts and Blacksouls.