A Supernatural Sea Story set in the Days of the Golden Age of Piracy
During The
Golden Age of Piracy, twelve-year-old Master William, leaves his dead mother, thought
to be a Selkie, to sail the sea lanes of the world and evade conscription in
the British Navy, He is shipped out of his home on the rocky islands of the Orkneys to become
a pirate.
He is followed, unseen, by a Finman, a mythical sorcerer of the
sea, who directs him by blowing him through time and space, if need be, for a
secret end. The Finman follows
William’s ship in a kayak, able to cross vast seas with three “thwarts”
(strokes) of a paddle, now and then opening the bag of winds around his neck to
blow William through time and space to learn a mastery of the sea and men.
Young William must travel to the age of the most notorious
female pirate of history, the older Anne Bonny, with whom he falls in love, and
is directed to achieve his destiny among such rogues as Blackbeard, Henry
Morgan, and Calico Jack Rackham.
When Master William’s search for Anne Bonny nears its end and he
learns she is waiting for him to come:
“Thy wedding party,” whispered the old man, nudging me in the
ribs with an elbow.
“Thy bride, Anne Bonny, awaits ye in the village.”
At these words, 1 assured myself
I was dreaming. I had imagined a number of possible first meetings with
Anne that ranged from romantic and tearful reconciliations to me abducting her
in a wheat sack. But marching into an Indian village at the head of a wedding
party of savages to claim her willing and regal hand had never crossed my mind.
( Arthur 437)
It’s a
huge “Sot Weed Factor” of a novel, filled with charm and comedy, as well as
violence and lore of the sea. The book was five years in the making and won
first place in fiction at the Virginia Writer’s Conference.
Like the author's
internationally acclaimed Hymn
to the Chesapeake, Master William displays the author's
encyclopedic knowledge of the sea combined with his stunning gift for lyrical
language that instantly transports readers to experience a different time and
place and makes them reluctant to leave.
Robert Peebles
"Bob" Arthur (born 1943) is a poet, a novelist, a short story writer,
a playwright, a critic, a director, and a professor. He has written and
published over twenty books and plays and 1,500 articles on the arts. A
finalist for Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2008 and 2010, he remains best known
for his book of poems, Hymn to the Chesapeake, the best-selling book in
the history of Road Publishers, on which one reviewer commented:
“It makes me
nostalgic for places I've never been.”
Mac MacKinney,
Virginia Pilot
