Author Description

She's a tomboy.Her brother's missing.Now she has to pretend to be him. Six-year-old Tyke is the spit of her half-brother, Mark, but there's one crucial difference: Tyke is the result of rape. When her father sails into their Devon fishing village in 1695, Mark, to protect their Ma, decides to kill him. But the plan goes wrong and Mark goes missing. Tyke's mother dresses her daughter as her son to get money from Mark's grandmother. Tyke moves into Mrs Read's London home and gets the education of a 'young gentleman'. When a one-armed pirate arrives, her world up-ends. She is forced to become a servant, but at least she can take comfort in her new friend Jim. Then puberty hits, and even her body seems to turn against her, threatening to reveal her secret. If she stops being 'Mark', she could lose everything. But how far will she go to stay free? Meet the young Mary Read, soon to become the fiercest female pirate of them all. "a riveting read with irresistible characters you'd want to befriend in real life" - Patience Agbabi, author of The Infinite "Mesmerising."- Maggie Brookes, author of Acts of Love and War