BABBLING BOOKS

MandyJ

The Pirate’s Daughter
Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Headline 2008
9780755343591

In 1946, a yacht carrying Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler Errol Flynn is blown ashore by a storm at Port Antonio on the coast of Jamaica. Eli Joseph, the local Justice of the Peace, goes to his aid, soon becoming Flynn’s guide, confidant and real estate agent. The jaded matinee idol is enchanted by the island, and the glamorous world of Hollywood converges with that of West Indian society. For Flynn, Jamaica is a tropical paradise and he decides to buy a ranch and a hotel and then makes a home for himself on nearby Navy Island, where he entertains the cream of Hollywood society at lavish parties. Ida Joseph, Eli’s teenage daughter, is ineluctably drawn to this charismatic older man, who singles her out for his attention, and a brief affair leads to Ida having Flynn’s child, a daughter Mary.

What follows is a story of love and adventure that spans 3 decades of Jamaican history. May is brought up by Ida, her grandfather Eli, and for 4 years by a foster family, who care for her while Ida is forced to go to New York to earn money. Always something of an outsider, neither part of the white world of her father, nor the black world of the island, and frequently alone, May grows up fascinated by Flynn and fills her journals with stories of pirates, inspired by the films she sees him starring in.

The book chronicles the destinies of the 2 women so inextricably linked with the star and describes how they find their way in a changing world and in a nation struggling to rise to the challenge of independence. Although the title refers to May, the story is very much that of both mother and daughter and at its heart is a family saga tracing lives across the generations.

Jamaica itself provides the backdrop to this saga and is an essential part of it. Most of the story is set during a period of unrest and profound change, which is however presented with a light enough touch to give insight without detracting from the plot. Many serious themes are touched upon, racism, colonisation, economics and eventually Jamaica’s independence from the British and the subsequent political unrest and violence. Cezair-Thompson blends all these topics seamlessly into the novel – we learn and understand without ever losing sight of the main characters. In spite of the multitude of themes, Cezair-Thompson’s spare and simple style controls the action admirably and we speed through thwarted love, death, financial disaster, smuggling, secret lives, ghost stories, illness, hidden treasure, drug addiction and shootings….never a dull moment in this book!

There are some wonderful evocations of Jamaican life here, ranging from aristocratic Europeans to desperately poor Jamaicans. Colourful personalities from the opposing world of Hollywood and the West Indies, (with some delightful cameos of Marilyn Monroe and Truman Capote amongst others), rub shoulders with a diverse group of islanders.

All in all the book with its mélange of family saga, love story and political historical fiction, is a well-paced and absorbing read.

I do have some reservations about using a real historical figure in such a “what if..” scenario. It is not of course uncommon for works of fiction to have real people in them, but it is unusual to invent a whole fabricated story line in this way. Nevertheless on the whole Cezair-Thompson gets away with it, and it seems churlish to quibble, as an involvement with an island girl does not stretch the imagination too much and her descriptions of Flynn and indeed the other real life characters are deftly handled, so much so that it is easy to forget who is in fact real and who invented.

This is an engrossing and entertaining read, with a masterly control of pace, plot and dialogue, and of the interplay between fact and fiction. It is also a book that will appeal to readers of all kinds and will no doubt be a well-deserved success.

blueflower · Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your review, I think I might give this one ago - when my reading block disappears.

jobar · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject:

I was really disappointed with this story and skipped the last 100 or so pages....

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