Ariel Lawhon's sweeping seventh historical novel, The Pirate Queen, traces the life of Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O'Malley), the legendary female Irish chieftain and privateer whose naval exploits and devotion to her clan were unparalleled. Lawhon braids the story of Gráinne's life in three alternating narratives: Maiden, Mother, and Matriarch, delving into each time period to highlight different facets of her fierce, shrewd, complicated protagonist.
Lawhon (The Frozen River) paints an atmospheric portrait of 16th-century Ireland, populated by rival clans living in isolated villages and fortified castles, connected by intricate alliances of marriage and battle. Grace, firstborn daughter of chieftain Eóin O'Malley, longs to go to sea with her father but finds herself hampered by superstitions about female sailors and her culture's expectations for young women. As she grows, Grace learns the feminine arts of household management and social diplomacy, but she also becomes a skilled sailor determined to make her own mark in Irish (and perhaps other) waters. As an adult, she defies her tyrannical husband, sailing her beloved ship Niamh to defend her homeland from English colonizers and other foreign invaders. Her years-long pitched conflict with English governor Richard Bingham eventually brings her to the attention--and the court--of Queen Elizabeth I. Meanwhile, between sailing trips, Grace fights to nurture and protect her children, her kinspeople, and her four stalwart guards, who stand by her until the very end.
With swashbuckling battle scenes and intimate moments of love and loss, The Pirate Queen is an evocative account of a woman who fought relentlessly to live--and sail--as she pleased. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams