Hi Margaret,
I'm a newbie with MySpace, but first wanted to say that I loved THE PIRATE'S DAUGHTER. Yes, you did bring Jamaica alive. I was there in '88 in Negril and have forever wanted to go back. I've even read "The White Witch of Rosehall" and have it someplace in my books. I'm a writer working on a novel and have a Jamaican woman in it because I fell in love with the people there. You did a fabulous job of using the senses to capture the lushness of the island. Just saw Ziggy Marley in concert and took my granddaughters. He's gorgeous! Oh, and also, you brought Errol to life. I've read his autobiography and the bios on him. Hope your novel is a bestseller.
~ Valerie Brooks
 

My second book tour begins August 6th. including: Wichita, Blytheville, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Grand Cayman For information see Random House Authors. Hope to see you there.
 

Lately I have been reading  or more correctly listening to tons of audiobooks. I came across your novel "The pirate's daughter" and I must say I was left glued to my car stereo for days just feasting on this book. Next to "Redemption" I must say this is my best experience reading any book. I am Jamaican and currently live in Delaware and this book took me back to times way back when things were simple but fun. Your references to the Blue lagoon, Kingston, Port Antonio,  Jamaican food, Obeah the music, the subculture of syrians and the likes in jamaica just had me craving more. It was almost as if I was there AND EXPERIENCED IT ALL. Just about every aspect of the book I could relate to. I lived it, I say it, I breathed it. I remember when I used to idolized the white tourist in my hometown of soral Gardens just like those people idolized Flynn and how they knew it and made the most of it. I have seen the indian and syrian  and chinese culture prevail in Jamaica and how they now enjoy the priveleges of the upper and middle class in Jamaica, quite unlike some of the these truly more traditional black Jamaicans of african decent. This book was 13 disc but I wouldn't have minded if it were 313. I just needed to be reminded of what I left behind over and over again. Now you can be honest with me and your readers and answer this one question. I know the brutality and killing aspect might have been overststated or exxagerated but something tells me that some or all of the story as it relates to Errol  Flynn might be true as it relates to his relationship with Ida. The details were too vivid and thorough to be fiction. On my next visit to jamaica I will be looking up nAVY ISLAND and there better be the ruins of a "bella vista" there. I know of the old theatre in Port antonio and my mother in law used to work in Kingston for the Hannah of Azans whon were realted I think. These details are too true not to be real. Is you other book ever going to be released on CD? and if so when?
 

Thank you for this great comment. Yes there are a lot of factual details in the book. I try to be as accurate as possible even though it's a novel. As for whether or not there really was an Ida -- Ida is a creation of my imagination (but with an effort to make her as authentic and realistic as possible).
Right now the UK publishers are working on a CD of my other novel The True History of Paradise. Pick up a copy of the book and/or you could wait for the CD.
About the "pirate" part of the novel. The Pirate is symbolic  and has several meanings  for me-- the wayward, less-than-moral aspects of our Caribbean heritage, badly-behaved, wandering males,  -- among other things. May's preoccupation with those tales is in part an escape from her own real and difficult early childhood; she also unconsciously connects the pirate's behaviour (recklessness, etc) to people in her own life and past; also Flynn was famous for his pirate roles. So all these things add layers of meaning to the novel, but, as you have proven, one can still enjoy the book without being conscious of them.
I have a question for you? If you could give me your honest opinion it would be helpful: there are 2 audiotapes, one abridged and one unabridged. Which did you listen to? What did you think of the voice, the narration? We're trying to decide whether I should narrate the next book or let an actress do it as before. The acent didn't sound authentically Jamaican to me, but maybe that didn't matter. If you  have time and can comment on that I'd appreciate it.
best
Margaret

 

 

Oh I forgot. Even though I am drooling over the book, I never got the pirate story or references to it throughout the book. I know you tied it all together at the end but I can imagine the book would have been just as good without it. I kept walking past the book on numerous trips to the library because the title did not seem appealing but I am sure glad I finally decided to try it