In this history we see how thin the line was between a royalty chartered privateer and a pirate, most notably epitomised by Francis Drake. Then there were the Renegades: Europeans captured by the Barbary corsairs who converted to Islam and became pirate captains in their own right. Some were simply cut-throat drunkards, but many pirate ships were run on surprisingly progressive, democratic principles. The 'golden age' or piracy is examined afresh...

When two young women meet under extraordinary circumstances in the eighteenth-century West Indies, they are unified in their desire to escape their oppressive lives. The first is a slave, forced to work in a plantation mansion and subjected to terrible cruelty at the hands of the plantation manager. The second is a spirited and rebellious English girl, sent to the West Indies to marry well and combine the wealth of two respectable families. But fate...

From one of the best-loved and bestselling authors of all time comes and irresistible tale of swashbuckling pirates in the New World - a classic story of adventure and betrayal. Jamaica, in 1665 a lone outpost of British power amid Spanish waters in the sunbaked Caribbean. Its capital, Port Royal, a cuthroat town of taverns, grog shops and bawdy houses - the last place imaginable from which to launch an unthinkable attack on a nearby Spanish stronghold....

However, Vivacia has been captured by the pirate, ?King? Kennit, and is acquiring a keen bloodlust. Bingtown becomes embroiled in a violent political upheaval against the corrupt Jamaillian leader, while the fading fortunes of the Vestrit family lead Malta deeper into the magical secrets of the mysterious Rain Wilds Traders. Beyond Bingtown, enigmatic wood-carver Amber dreams of re-launching the Paragon, The Mad Ship, despite the history of death...

Dark and deadly deeds, piratical plots, lost heiresses and poor little orphans - Vivian French conjures up the very spirit of Victorian theatre in a fabulous new novel for middle-grade readers. To avoid financial ruin, the Pringle family?s theatre-troupe has left London behind, travelling to the north of England by train. With new audiences to play to, and less competition, they hope to make enough money to pay off their debts back home. But will...

When pirates attack a cargo ship off the Somalian coast and one of them is found to be a British-born Pakistani, alarm bells start ringing at London's Thames House. MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is brought in to establish how and why a young British Muslim could go missing from his well-to-do family in Birmingham and end up onboard a pirate skiff in the Indian Ocean, armed with a Kalashnikov. After an undercover operative connected to the case...

A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, a behemoth of fat, flatulence and furious suspicion of anything modern - this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, noble crusader against a world of dunces. The ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged. Ignatius ignores them, heaving his vast bulk through the city's fleshpots in a noble crusade against vice, modernity and ignorance. But his momma has a nasty surprise in store for him: Ignatius...

This is the first in a series set in the land south of Buckkeep. The story deals specifically with the fate of Althea Vestrit, who, on her father's death, finds that she will not inherit the family liveship that she had expected.