Saltblood (Francesca de Tores, Bloomsbury)

Saltblood is an engrossing, deeply felt historical novel by Melbourne poet, author and academic Francesca de Tores (with previous works published as Francesca Haig), fictionalising the life of pirate Mary Read. Set in the early 1700s, the novel follows England-born Mary from early infancy until death, with de Tores effectively drawing on the classic Bildungsroman and picaresque genres to structure Mary’s story. To secure inheritance money, Mary’s mother disguises the toddler Mary as her half-brother Mark, who died of flux soon after Mary’s birth. Thus begins Mary/Mark’s dual identity. She continues to live as a boy into her adolescence and adulthood, serving as a footman, a sailor, a soldier, and eventually a pirate. De Tores’s portrayal of Mary is nuanced and riveting, and her prose feels both historically accurate and gorgeously poetic. There are elements of startling beauty in Saltblood: the silent, loyal crow that befriends and shadows Mary, the visceral observations Mary makes about her lover Anne Bonny, and the vividness of Mary’s constant ache to return to the sea. Mary’s career as a pirate is a joy to read, as is her friendship with the charismatic Captain Jack ‘Calico’ Rackham. Through this rambunctious life of piracy, a more self-assured Mary emerges, one who rejects the need to choose between Mark and Mary, and instead exists authentically as herself.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer and educator at Melbourne Museum. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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