Seven Jane’s novel The Isle of Gold draws on oceanic mythology, folklore, and mystery. Original pirate stories are hard to find but this book manages to bring an original take. Brilliantly researched and crafted, The Isle of Gold brings the pirates and era to life.
Pirate stories have always been favourites of mine because of the action, adventure, and swoon-worthy romance, and this book did not disappoint.
The Isle of Gold is about an orphan girl named Merrin Smith, who was brought to the Caribbean island Isla Perla as a small child. Ever since then, she’s been living in the local brothel, but now she’s ready to find answers about her past. She disguises herself as a boy in order to try to gain passage on the most ruthless pirate ship in the seas, under Captain Erik Winters. His ship is headed for the mythical island Ogygia which is said to appear only once every two years. They are in search of Evangeline Dahl, a woman who had disappeared from La Perla two years before.
Merrin is an incredibly strong female character, although she has to keep her identity hidden from the Captain and his crew because being a woman on a pirate ship is punishable by pain of death. Merrin also begins to suspect that her own past has to do with the legends and myths told to her which could compromise her life and place on the ship. Merrin, as well as the other characters, felt fully fleshed out and real.
Seven Jane’s debut pulls the reader in and doesn’t let them go until it’s over. Her writing is very visual and immerses you completely in the world and story. Although, the novel isn’t long, Seven Jane manages to capture the reader’s attention easily.
The Isle of Gold is a historical fantasy novel that centers around pirates in their golden age. If you like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies or Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller, you are sure to enjoy Seven Jane’s debut novel.
The Isle of Gold is now available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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SYNOPSIS | GOODREADS
Mystery, Myth & Magic Meet in an Epic Adventure of Two Women Lost at Sea—and the Secret that Binds Them Together
AN ORPHAN DISGUISED AS A PIRATE SETS SAIL FOR A MYSTICAL ISLAND IN HOPES OF UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF HER PAST
The year is 1716—the Golden Age of Pirates. An orphan who sleeps in the dusty kitchens of a quayside brothel, Merrin Smith is desperate to unravel the secrets of her past and find the truth about the events that brought her to the Caribbean island of Isla Perla as a child. Disguised as a sailor, and with the help of her longtime friend Claudette, Merrin joins the crew of the pirate ship Riptide, helmed by the notorious Captain Erik Winters. Tenacious and rumored a madman, Winters is known as much for his ruthlessness as for his connection to the enigmatic and beautiful proprietress of the Goodnight Mermaid, Evangeline Dahl, who vanished from Isla Perla two summers before.
At sunset the Riptide sails for the mythical island of Bracile, a place hidden between air and sea and that exists only for a moment every two years, and which has never returned any man who has sailed for its shores. The journey will be perilous and long, and it will take Merrin far away from the only home she’s ever known. Because she can read, Merrin will serve as the Captain’s apprentice, deciphering old texts for clues to the island’s whereabouts as the ship sails through haunted, frozen waters and into the very heart of the ocean. As she struggles to navigate the rough, seafaring life aboard a pirate ship, Merrin must keep her identity hidden from the scrupulous gaze of not only Captain Winters, but also Mister Brandon Dunn, the ship’s surly, legend-spouting quartermaster, and Tom Birch, the charming boatswain Merrin can’t help but feel drawn to.
As the Riptide makes its way to Bracile, Merrin begins to suspect that the men she has worked so hard to deceive may in fact be more connected to her than she would have imagined, and that perhaps her own past might have more to do with the Dunn’s legends and myths than she ever could have guessed.
