A couple of weeks ago, I was disappointed to learn that I would miss Laura Sook Duncombe speaking at the North Carolina Maritime Museum. (I would miss it because it was happening the next day, and I don’t live anywhere near North Carolina!) However, on the plus side, I remembered that I wanted to check out her book Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas.

Remembering that I wanted to read it caused me to go looking for it again (it hadn’t been yet released the first time I came across it), and I discovered that it was available through my local library as an audiobook!

Initially, I was interested in this book because I enjoy learning about history and female pirates are of particular interest to me, although I usually study the completely fictional variety. I expected this book to focus more on sorting fact from fiction to determine the as-accurate-as-possible lives of historical pirate women. I was pleasantly surprised when I reached the end of the introduction, and the author stated that she wasn’t all that concerned about separating the factually based aspects of these women’s lives from the myths and legends. Instead, she was interested in the stories surrounding these historical pirate women. Now, I’m even more invested in listening further because I’m intrigued by this idea of approaching historical figures by thinking about how we (or other people in other places and eras) choose to tell their stories.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in too, find a copy in whatever format, and read about pirate women with me!