Well Hello there gorgeous gang! I hope you’re well and you’re having a fantastic June!

I’ve had a lovely June so far, starting my month on holiday in Corfu, reading to my heart’s delight in sunshine, eating greek food. Here’s a photo of me reading and drinking a cappuccino on Mouse island, a little island off the bay you can only reach via a small boat. It was gorgeous.

Last week I also went to see Green Day at Manchester. I’ve been a fan since I was 14 years old and the American Idiot Album came out, so to finally see them on tour 20 years later was a total dream!

When I returned from my holiday I came home to some gorgeous book mail from the Publisher Bloomsbury who have very kindly welcomed me into their Creator Circle 💜. I’ve been very slowly reading and cherishing this book over the past few weeks and when I finished it I just KNEW it had to be the one to share! I’ve been recommending it to anyone that would listen for the past couple of weeks, I guess now its your turn 😆!

SALTBLOOD, BY FRANCESCA DE TORES

Synopsis:

“In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685, a daughter is born as her half-brother is dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark, and Ma will continue to collect his inheritance money.

Mary’s dual existence as Mark will lead to a role as a footman in a grand house, serving a French mistress; to the navy, learning who to trust and how to navigate by the stars; and to the army and the battlegrounds of Flanders, finding love among the bloodshed and the mud. But none of this will stop Mary yearning for the sea.

Drawn back to the water, Mary must reinvent herself yet again, for a woman aboard a ship is a dangerous thing. This time Mary will become something more dangerous than a woman.

She will become a pirate.

Breathing life into the Golden Age of Piracy, Saltblood is a wild adventure, a treasure trove, weaving an intoxicating tale of gender and survival, passion and loss, journeys and transformation, through the story of Mary Read, one of history’s most remarkable figures.”

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Hardback, 368 Pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Purchased/Gifted: Gifted

RRP: £16.99

The first thing I noticed when I unwrapped the book from its gift wrapping was the cover. It is truly beautiful with the gold foiling, and the artwork is outstanding. It not only captures the heart of the book but it also looks beautiful on the shelf and is a joy as a blogger to photograph.

I’ll be the first to put my hands up and tell you that historical fiction is absolutely not my go to genre. I often find it boring and difficult to relate to when old language is used and characters talk of objects I cannot say I’ve ever seen or touched.

I have however always had a little fondness for Pirates. Not so much in my current line of work (which is heavily impacted by international ocean freight!), but since I’ve been a kid I’ve always had a fascination for the rebellious nature of Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean will always be one of my favourite films. Heck, on my Corfu Holiday we had a choice of an adult’s sunset cruise or a fun Pirate ship. Anyway here’s me having a great time on the pirate ship.. 🤣

From the synopsis the hook to get me to pick this book up immediately and begin to read was the theme of gender identity. That a child would be told that they’d have to be brought up as a gender opposite to their own rather than it being their own choice to do so really struck a chord with me – and for the mother’s financial gain. I instantly felt angry for Mary, her choice taken away from her from birth.

I obviously have zero experience of this myself but I would imagine the opposite way around is people being forced by their parents to live their gender that they dont feel is aligned with who they really are. Straight away therefore this book was making me stop and think deeper.

This book opens with a true nugget of key information and which truly fascinated me and stayed with me as I read. Mary Read is a REAL historic figure! This woman existed, she rebelled, she pirated, she lived dual lives – multiple lives in fact by the time you reach the end of this novel. Whilst this novel isn’t necessarily factually aligned, it is a re-telling of this woman’s moment in history.

I loved it.

MY RATING: 5/5

The writing is EXQUISITE. The author is not new to writing, she has other books, is a poet and an academic, but Saltblood is her debut historical novel. Her skill and experience as a poet shines through the pages like the gold foiling on the front of the book. It is lyrical, moving, always flowing. Never a dull moment, this is a true page turner that will keep you engaged both with its plot and its gorgeous prose.

I absolutely adored the descriptive language. I haven’t the quote to hand but someone is literally described as having a mouth like an arsehole and I couldn’t stop myself laughing for a good few minutes. 😆

The characters have a cinematic like quality. Now considering that we encounter so many men on our travels through this book, as Mary joins the Navy, then the Army (as ‘Mark’), then life as an inn keeper, then Piracy, you would imagine that the many names we encounter would get lost in the book; that characters would blend and be lost amongst the pages. Whilst that’s true for less important characters, I don’t feel that’s the case for many of the characters we meet. They are important to Mary Read and De Tores makes them important to the reader. I will add that we meet some infamous pirate friends along the way!

There are so many explorations as to what it means to be a woman, both as a woman passing as a man, and as a woman amongst Men. There’s trying to imitate a man and to conceal womanly features such as breasts and periods. There’s the exploration of sexuality both as a man and as a woman, unwanted sexual advances. There’s LGTBQ+ character representation with many of the characters. Then, romance, friendship, loss, resistance, freedom and nautical adventure.

I would have to write another 300+ page novel to talk you through the adventures in this novel, so I’ll keep this simple:

This is the best book of adventure that I’ve ever read and I implore you to read it.*

You dont have to shoehorn yourself into following a navy narrative, or an army adventure or a romantic one, because the plot changes, drifting with such ease and talent in the changes of Mary’s life. It reads almost as an adventure biography.

Safe to say, I 10000% recommend this novel to anyone with whom the themes above may appeal to. I’m obsessed with it and I cannot wait to see what this author publishes next, she’s my new auto buy author.

I’ll leave you with a few of my favourite quotes.

‘The navy is full of boys pretending to be men. Is it such a big difference, one girl pretending to be a boy?’

‘The first time I choose in ignorance, knowing nothing of what it is to be a sailor. The second time, I know well enough the cost it demands. Saltblood, wholehearted, I choose the sea.’

Will you be picking this book up? What would make you want to read this novel?

Let me know what you think in the comments or on my instagram feed @papyrusandpeppermint

Until the next Chapter,

Emma X0

*update as of September 2024… Saltblood is now a prize winning novel, crowned the 2024 winner of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.