The Pirates Daughter

[Stormmey]

written by Margaret Cezair-Thompson .....anyone ever read what she has written.

Looked at couple of the reviews featuring Errol Flynn back in the day and his fathering a child with a Jamaican female.....didn't seem like anything riveting.

[CeaBee]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

heard of it before..didn't read it, but it sounds interesting. Never know before that she is Dudley Thompson daughter

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Jamaica-born Margaret Cezair-Thompson, a creative writing instructor at Wellesley College and author of The True History of Paradise, knows her native island’s physical, political, and social landscape well. Her historical epic, which spans the years between the end of World War II and the 1970s, sets a mother and a daughter's coming-of-age stories against this lush country's tensions of race and class. While most critics thought that both imagined and real characters (think Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe) sparkled, a couple accused the author of portraying self-absorbed, uninteresting stereotypes of Jamaicans; others cited a few too many plot coincidences. Neverthelessâ€&quot;especially in May’s Treasure Cove, a book within a bookâ€&quot;Jamaica comes alive in all its tropical splendor.</div></div>



<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars &quot;Here it is, as promised, not tidy but true: the notes of a pirate's daughter.&quot;--Navy Island, December, 1976., October 3, 2007
By
Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER)
This review is from: The Pirate's Daughter (Hardcover)
May Flynn, the daughter of actor Errol Flynn and a beautiful Jamaican girl, has always wondered about her roots. Brought up by her mother Ida, grandfather Eli, and, for four years, a foster family, May is clever and tough from a young age. Always an outsider, she could pass for white, though she is not part of the white world of her father and maternal grandfather. Not part of the black world, either, though she considers herself &quot;colored,&quot; she is often mocked by her dark Jamaican peers. Frequently alone, she keeps journals, filling them with stories of pirates, inspired by the films starring Errol Flynn which she sees at the local cinema.

As May discovers more about her mother Ida's life before, during, and after her birth, she creates the story of her own life, revealing it through flashbacks. When Errol Flynn's yacht was blown ashore at Port Antonio during a 1946 hurricane, her grandfather Eli drove to his aid, soon becoming Flynn's social secretary, guide, confidant, and real estate broker. Flynn finds the relaxed atmosphere of Jamaica a welcome contrast to Hollywood, where he faces charges related to his affairs with underage girls. He soon builds a palatial estate on Navy Island, off the coast, where he entertains Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Truman Capote, and a host of other Hollywood stars. It is here that Ida, May's mother, first meets Flynn when she is thirteen.

The second part of the novel follows Ida after she gives birth to May. Trying to support her family, she leaves Jamaica (and May) to find work in New York. Her return to the island several years later, and the changes she introduces into May's life, parallel some of the changes occurring on the island itself. Cuban refugees swarm to Jamaica to escape Castro's takeover. An economic downturn and, eventually, Jamaica's own independence from the British lead to competing political movements, violence, and atrocity over the next twenty years.

Filled with colorful characters, the patina of Hollywood, and the violence of political change, the novel is a fast-paced melodrama and family saga. The author's style is clean and simple as she traces lives across generations, providing enough description to enable the reader to create vibrant pictures of the action without bogging down the narrative in detail. Illness, death, financial disaster, smuggling, secret lives, ghost stories, rumors of hidden treasure, a mysterious grave, drug addiction, thwarted love, May-December romances, and shootings are among the many elements which keep the action moving--and keep the reader in a constant state of anticipation. Author Margaret Cezair-Thompson tells the story for its own sake, not to illustrate complex themes. The novel is entertaining, filled with non-stop excitement, and sure to appeal to a wide audience. n Mary Whipple </div></div>

both reviews from amazon.com

I think it was already discussed in this forum..not sure though

[mountaingal]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

bought it and read it. it's okay. prefer her first book, &quot;the true history of paradise&quot;. it explores the same themes as &quot;pirate's daughter&quot; but more compellingly.

[CeaBee]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

i think i read that book too. at least i remember a part about the lesbians being raped.

lawd.

is the same book?

#nomoresadbooks

[mountaingal]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

tell the truth, i don't really remember a lesbian rape scene from true history of paradise.

[CeaBee]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

there wasn't a graphic description. but from what i remember her friend was a lesbian and she was raped. don't remember if the friend's girlfriend was also raped and/or killed

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">series of profoundly unsettling events :she is knifed by thugs, sees a bystander shot by a soldier during a minor traffic accident, tearfully keeps vigil over her best friend Faye's hospital bed after Faye is raped and assaulted</div></div>

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

I loved True History (have read it 3 times and given 2 copies as gifts)

I remember Faye getting beat up. I guess I forgot that she was raped.

I enjoyed Pirates Daughter as well (but not as much as True History)

[Peasie]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">bought it and read it. it's okay. prefer her first book, &quot;the true history of paradise&quot;. it explores the same themes as &quot;pirate's daughter&quot; but more compellingly. </div></div>

ditto. could not finish The Pirate's Daughter

enjoyed The True History of Paradise

we discussed these books a while back

[Stormmey]

Re: The Pirates Daughter

A friend promised to pass on Pirates daughter to me, so was just trying to get the heads up here. Thanks for the review.