#BookReview of #Seaborne by Nuala O’Connor | @NualaNiC | @NewIslandBooks

‘Bestselling and award-winning Irish author, Nuala O’Connor, returns with the intimate and thrilling portrayal of the life of 18th-century Irishwoman, Anne Bonny‘
– Seaborne

[ About Seaborne ]

1703, Kinsale, County Cork. Anne Coleman is the illegitimate child of a local lawyer and his maid; disguised as ‘Anthony’ to protect reputations, the mask suits Anne just fine. But, fixated on boats and the sea, she struggles to fit in, and her devoted mother fears for her fiercely independent and impulsive daughter.

When their secrets are exposed, the family emigrates to the new colony of Carolina, but this fresh start will bring devastating loss and stifling responsibilities. Lonely and transgressive, Anne finds comfort only with Bedelia, servant and intimate friend. But her craving for the sea-wandering life and a misjudged marriage to young Gabriel Bonny will compel Anne to take to the sea again, this time around the islands of the Caribbean, famous for plunder and piracy.

Adventure, passion and freedom await, but so do violence and disappointment. And, as she tries to stay true to herself, her hopes and her few precious friendships, Anne Bonny must also face her own privilege and the sacrifices required for enduring love.

[ My Review ]

‘Up I go, breathing the sea, the sea breathing me, until I split waves and push myself on through the water, arm over arm, pressing forward, onward, free, unsinkable’

Seaborne by Nuala O’Connor publishes April 19th with New Island Books and is described as a ‘thrilling and sensuous portrait of a young woman out of step with her time and place, but never her heart.’

Having read the exquisite NORA by Nuala O’Connor, I knew that Seaborne was going to be another exceptional and extraordinary reading experience.

Anne Bonny is a character of mythical proportions with her roots in Kinsale, a beautiful coastal town in Co. Cork. In approaching her research about this historical figure, Nuala O’Connor was very much aware that much of what was written as fact could be disputed, due to inaccuracies and fabrications over the centuries, so she set about creating a work of fiction, a novel of pure escapism and adventure. But Nuala O’Connor has a unique style to her writing, and her ability to depict such atmospheric and immersive scenes made me want to believe that everything she wrote was real.

Elaine Feeney described Seaborne as ‘a rollicking triumph of passion, and a powerful portrayal of Irish pirate, Anne Bonny––a true original ‘ and it truly is all that. Anne Bonny’s life was dramatic, packed full with adventure and dangerous exploits. She lived on the edge and a life of domesticity was never going to be her chosen path. Over three hundred years ago Anne Bonny, alongside Mary Read, were tried for piracy. Filtering through the historical accounts over the centuries, O’Connor approached her novel with a willingness to try something different. As she says herself she would ‘draw on some of the far-fetched, fun, fictional details laid out about her, things such as her cross-dressing, her alleged bisexuality and her fierce individuality’.

Anne Bonny came into the world as the result of an affair between a lawyer and his maid. Her father, Willard Coleman left his marriage creating a new life with Anne’s mother, Mag. Born Anne Dineen Coleman, she was dressed as a boy from an early age, offering a disguise against the wagging tongues. Trouble followed them until one grey dawn when they finally left Ireland. Setting sail for the Province of Carolina, they eventually landed at the Hasty Point Plantation, where her father was employed. The change in scenery was dramatic, with Anne missing the Atlantic and the sea air but she found solace through her friendship with Bedelia, an indentured servant on the plantation.

Anne was challenged by the role she was expected to play and eventually saw a route out through marriage to Gabriel Bonny, a local seafaring man. Initially she thought that together they could sail the high seas as a team but the reality soon became very apparent. Daring deeds and excitement were side-lined for the daily drudgery of keeping house, leaving Anne Bonny restless and frustrated. Anne Bonny was stubborn with qualities that didn’t necessarily appeal to everyone, but with her friend Bedelia, she could be true to herself and share her inner dreams and secrets.

When an opportunity arose for action on the high-seas, Anne Bonny embraced it with open arms. This was it. This was her moment to explore and to fully realise her ambition to be audacious and courageous. Anne Bonny embarked on a dangerous journey, one that would be written about in myths and legends for centuries.

Nuala O’Connor brings Anne Bonny to life in this magnificent reimagining. Filled with breath-taking moments of brazen courage and perilous exploits, O’Connor completely immerses the reader into some of the more scintillating moments of this wild and rebellious woman.

When I read NORA I was astounded by the way language was used and, in Seaborne, the same holds true. O’Connor writes dialect with a freedom that is so refreshing, allowing the reader to be completely consumed by this stunning and almost tangible tale.

Seaborne is a superb novel, bursting with a buzzing vitality and sensuality. O’Connor has captured a time and place with an outstanding clarity. A powerful and remarkable portrayal, Seaborne is an exuberant and passionate novel, a cracking adventure and a fascinating insight into the life of a legend.

‘The cannon releases its ball, and the crack and cloud be enough to frighten angels from the skies.’

[ Bio ]

Nuala O’Connor is a novelist, short story writer and poet, and lives in Co. Galway with her family. Nuala holds a BA in Irish from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Translation Studies (Irish/English) from Dublin City University. She is the author of five previous novels, including Nora (New Island & Harper Perennial, 2021), Becoming Belle (2018) and Miss Emily (2015) and six short story collections, her most recent being Joyride to Jupiter (New Island, 2017). She has won many prizes for her short fiction including the Francis MacManus Award, the James Joyce Quarterly Fiction Contest and the UK’s Short Fiction Journal Prize.

Nuala’s work has also been nominated for numerous prizes including the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the International Dublin Literary Award. Nora was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award, RTÉ Audience Choice Award and named as a Top 10 2021 historical novel by the New York Times. Nora was also the One Dublin One Book choice for 2022. Nuala curated the 2022 exhibition at MoLI, ‘―Love, Says Bloom’, on the Joyce family, for #Ulysses100. She is editor-in-chief at flash e-zine Splonk.

X ~ @NualaNiC