Featured image: Saltblood tells the story of famous female pirate Mary Read in the 18th century | Photo by elxeneize via Envato
De Tores creates a fresh narrative through the lens of gender, sexuality, and societal norms
by Carolyn Ray
Englishwoman Mary Read might not be as well-known as Blackbeard or Jack Sparrow, but in “Saltblood”, we come to know her as of history’s most notorious pirates. Born in England towards the end of the 17th century, Mary’s mother dresses Mary as her half-brother in a bid to ensure that payments continue from his grandparents and to cover up the illegitimate Mary.
Throughout her life, Mary reinvents herself again and again, from serving a French mistress, to being a sailor in the navy, where she learns how to navigate by the stars. It’s clear that she excels at being a man. She can’t resist the sea, and dressed as a man, becomes a pirate.
When she arrives in the Caribbean, she meets another woman in male disguise, Anne Bonny, the lover of pirate John Rackham (aka Calico Jack) — who later becomes Read’s lover too, according to De Tores’ narrative.
Born near Cork, Ireland, Bonny was an Irish American pirate whose brief period of marauding the Caribbean during the 18th century enshrined her in legend as one of the few to have defied convention against female pirates.
Smithsonian Magazine notes that “A surprising number of women ventured to sea, in many capacities: as servants, prostitutes, laundresses, cooks and—albeit less frequently—as sailors, naval officers, whaling merchants or pirates. Still, female pirates remained an anomaly and perceived liability; Blackbeard, for one, banned women from his ship, and if his crew took one captive she was strangled and pitched over the side. Anne [Bonny] refused to be deterred by this sentiment. Upon joining Rackam’s crew, she was said to have silenced a disparaging shipmate by stabbing him in the heart.”
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were two famous female pirates / Credit Lecbrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/ Alamy
A friendship forms between Mary and Anne. Anne Bonny is a free-spirited young woman and the two are a formidable pair. They are drawn to the very masculine world of the piracy and enlist on ships that will raid other vessels for profit. It is a hard world but at some level an excitingly addictive one, riven with danger and disease, and the author beautifully depicts the time and sense of place. As a woman she is not only confronted by hard work but by sexism and lewd advances, which she soon learns to neutralise. The author sets the story against historical events for authenticity, as wars and governments come and go and trade deals are made and piracy is outlawed.
“Saltblood”, is a wild and intoxicating adventure of survival, passion and loss, journey and transformation. It’s the story of one of history’s most remarkable figures, examined through the lens of gender and the ways that revealing it could mean life or death. It was almost impossible to put down, and I look forward to De Tores’ next novel and efforts to disrupt a traditional narrative, something we all need a little more of.
“My greatest secret is not that I am a boy. My greatest secret is that I like it. I have learned to relish this in-betweenness.” — Page 21, Saltblood
About Saltblood Author Francesa de Tores
Francesca grew up in lutruwita/Tasmania, gained her PhD from the University of Melbourne, and was a senior lecturer and a Visiting Writing Fellow at the University of Chester. Her poetry has been published in literary journals and anthologies in both Australia and England, and a collection of poetry, Bodies of Water, was published in 2006. In 2010 she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship. She lives in naarm/Melbourne, on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation.
As Francesca de Tores, she writes historical fiction. Published in April 2024, “Saltblood” was a Sunday Times top-twenty bestseller, and won the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
As Francesca Haig, she is the author of four novels. The most recent, The Cookbook of Common Prayer, was published in 2021. Her post-apocalyptic Fire Sermon trilogy is published in more than 20 languages. The first novel, The Fire Sermon, was published in 2015, followed by The Map of Bones in 2016, and concluding with The Forever Ship in 2017.
Book Club Discussion Questions
- What was your favourite passage in the book and why?
- Before you read this book, did you know that Mary Read was a real historical figure?
- The book explores of survival, adaptation and reinvention. How does she transform from Mary into Mark and later into a pirate? How does she adapt to each new role? What lessons can we learn from this that apply to our lives?
- Much of the book is set in the Caribbean, and in the Bahamas. Did anything about the history of this region surprise you?
- Is there a symbolic significance of the sea in Mary’s life? What does the sea represent for her, and how does it shape her destiny and sense of self? What is your connection to the sea?
- What did you think of Mary’s crow? The author has said, “There was something so fitting about the forbidding, black bird that becomes Mary’s constant witness – it sees the truth of her, even before she herself has come to terms with the complexity of her real identity.”
- Discuss Mary’s personal growth throughout the novel. How do her experiences in the grand house, the navy, the army, and as a pirate contribute to her development as a character?
- Did you feel satisfied by the ending?
- Can you recommend any other novels set in the Caribbean, especially if they have great travel themes?
More Books That Shift Narratives
Carolyn Ray
In 2023, Carolyn was named one of the most influential women in travel by TravelPulse for her efforts to advocate for women over 50 in travel. She has been featured in the New York Times, Toronto Star and Conde Nast as a solo travel expert, and speaks at women's travel conferences around the world. In 2025, she received her second SATW travel writing award and published her first book "Never Too Late: How Women 50+ Travellers Are Making the Rules" with co-author Lola Akinmade. She leads JourneyWoman's team of writers and chairs the JourneyWoman Women's Advisory Council, JourneyWoman Awards for Women 50+ and the Women's Speaker's Bureau. She is the chair of the Canadian chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), a member of Women Travel Leaders and a Herald for the Transformational Travel Council (TTC). Sometimes she sleeps. A bit.
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