Award-winning novelist Vanessa Riley discusses her newest book, Fire Sword and Sea, on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. during a virtual author talk presented by the Ocean County Library.
Fire Sword and Sea takes place in the Caribbean Sea in 1675, and is based on the folk story of the female pirate Jacquotte Delahaye. Jacquotte, the mixed-race daughter of a tavern owner on the island of Tortuga, dreams of joining seafarers and smugglers in the nearby waters. In Haiti, she becomes Jacques, a dockworker, earning the respect of others while hiding her gender.
For the next 20 years, she raids the Caribbean, making enemies and amassing a fortune in stolen gold.
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