Fantastic book showing how strong and courageous a women can be. I don’t want to give anything away so I will simply say it is a must read. It’s a captivating true story of one women's determination to change her circumstances and overcome obstacles out of her control. Every women should read this book! It’s reminder that we are stronger than what we seen and sometimes feel. This book I hold dearly to my heart. Taken from her home and sold into slavery this true story is a page turner. The authors debut novel is a great example of literary genius. I look forward to reading more of her work!

Thank you to NetGalley and Legend Press for the advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review. On Wilder Seas publishes March 17!

This story really portrays the strength of women and our ability to react, adapt and thrive in our environments. It is inspired by a true story, and I think that made it more enjoyable for me.

It is the late 16th century, and slave Maria makes an impulsive decision to change her situation - she bargains her way onto the ship of Francis Drake, seeing a brighter future with him than the men who bought her in a slave auction. However, she is on an English ship among 80 men, and she is the only female. She befriends Diego, the General's right-hand man - not English, but Cuban and trusted wholeheartedly by the General. She manages to find a way to keep herself from the prying hands of the crew members and in the "safety" of the General's cabin. She's told that they sail to England, where slavery is being abolished and she will be free. What she doesn't realize is that Francis Drake is set on finding the New World and places to settle new colonies in the Queen's name. They travel through icy waters, meeting different Indigenous people and trying to show them Christianity. But Maria feels more at home with these new people than with the English, and in the end her decisions put her at a great risk. When the ship comes into trouble, she is almost swept away, but ends up finding her salvation instead, and the life she's always wanted.

I definitely enjoyed Maria's resilience - she is kidnapped from her home, and sold as a slave, never seeing her family again. She is subjected to true horrors, but never loses her sense of self. She does what she can to take back her freedom, and to keep others from losing theirs along the way. I really enjoyed the way she interacted with the Indigenous people, and saw more of herself in them than the English. She had a charming personality that easily won people over.

Overall, this was a pleasant, mostly lighthearted read, and I did enjoy it. It was short-lived, and the plot could have been developed a little more, as well as the relationships expanded on.

On Wilder Seas: The Woman on the Golden Hind is Nikki Marmery’s debut novel and a captivating and spellbinding historical adventure based on the compelling true story of Macaia, or Maria, a slave who was desperately trying to escape her meagre existence. This is a woman who was literally written out of the history books as her ordeal was deemed an inconvenient truth and I praise Ms Marmery not only for bringing to light this courageous woman's story but making her front and centre of the entire story; this made me incredibly proud to be a feminist and champion of equal rights for all.

It can be recognised from the outset that the amount of research that has been undertaken by the author is extensive and meticulous in order to have a historically accurate portrayal of the times and traditions; it's clear that this has been a labour of love for Marmery and her seamless blending of fact and fiction highlights to me that she is an author to watch. It is a tale that has been told million times over but never once like this and I, for one, am so glad I didn't let it pass me by. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Many thanks to Legend Press for an ARC.

This novel is set in 1579 and is the story of a slave, Maria, and the time she spent as the only woman on the Golden Hind captained by adventurer Francis Drake.

With no control of her life and at constant risk of assault by the sailors, Maria must use her wits to survive. She is at mercy of the men who own her and escapes from one master in the hope that she will be treated better by the next - yet always fearing what will happen if her old master catches up with her.

Her life has been one of tragedy and enslavement and Maria’s feelings of rage and injustice came through very strongly.

The aspect of this book I enjoyed the most is that despite her hard life, her circumstances made Maria an adventurer and she visited parts of the ‘undiscovered’ world which was an experience no other woman had at the time. I also thought the descriptions of life at sea were excellent. I really engaged with Maria and thought this was a well written debut and an exciting adventure story.

This is a reimagining of history from a slave woman's perspective. It's based on true events but the author took creative liberties and we got to understand Maria's experiences and point of view, even if there's not many records of her to help with that. It's a real adventure but it just didn't grasp my attention as it could have done.

I am finding it difficult to describe this book as it contained so much. At its core it is a woman's journey across the world and her fight for freedom. I have mixed emotions about this as it is Historical Fiction but is very much the author's version of events. The writing is poignant and heartfelt, but the flow between chapters threw me off at times. I liked the idea of the story and the way the author describes the darker sides of exploration and colonialism.

On March 1st 1579 in the Pacific Ocean the Golden Hind, captained by Francis Drake, captured the Spanish galleon, ‘Cacafuego’. Drake’s crew captured the largest treasure haul to date.

On board the ‘Cacafuego’ was an African slave known as Maria. Maria longs for her freedom and begs Drake, known in this novel as the General, to take her with him.

The story follows Maria, a lone woman on a ship of eighty men, as they circumnavigate the globe. It’s a tale of perseverance, strength and exploration.

Personally I love a reimagining of history from a woman’s perspective. All that is known of Maria is that the Golden Hind records show that a woman was on board the ship for nine months. Marmery has used her in-depth research and vivid imagination to bring this woman’s story to life.

The first half of the novel moved fairly slowly and at times I found the flashbacks to Maria’s origins confusing. However by a third of the way in I was hooked. I just couldn’t put it down!

If you loved The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson or The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave then this is a book for you!

I received this as an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sir Francis Drake, the hero of the Armada, the second man who sailed around the globe, is just a shadow called The General in this tale told by a young enslaved African woman.

When the ship she is on, the FireShitter or Cagafuego is captured by the English she is transported to the English ship as a bedwarmer for Drake.

" Golden Hind caught up with Cagafuego on 1 March 1579, in the vicinity of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Since it was the middle of the day and Drake did not want to arouse suspicions by reducing sails, he trailed some wine caskets behind Golden Hind to slow her progress and allow enough time for night to fall. In the early evening, after disguising Golden Hind as a merchantman, Drake finally came alongside his target and, when the Spanish captain San Juan de Antón refused to surrender, opened fire.[1]
Golden Hind's first broadside took off Cagafuego's mizzenmast. When the English sailors opened fire with muskets and crossbows, Golden Hind came alongside with a boarding party. Since they were not expecting English ships to be in the Pacific, Cagafuego's crew was taken completely by surprise and surrendered quickly and without much resistance. Once in control of the galleon, Drake brought both ships to a secluded stretch of coastline and over the course of the next six days unloaded the treasure.[2]"
Source: Wikipedia

Maria sails with the Golden Hind towards what is now the USA and Canada and over the Pacific. Life on board the ship is cruel and rough with you shipboys buggered and a captain who can decide on life and limb. The novel gives a more dark view on life on board of those ocean faring ships. ANd also drives the grim reality of slavers and slavery in your face.

The novel is well written but apart from Maria the men aboard ship remain a mere shadows in her tale. The book seems well researched. It did manage to turn the hero into the more realistic slaver and privateer who abandoned friends when it was more opportunistic.

In 1579, Francis Drake and his crew of 80 men and boys stops at a small port on the coast of New Spain. Taking over the town, they loot and pillage, taking supplies and valuables to restock their stores on their voyage to look for a new passage for the English, which would allow them to avoid their enemies, the Spanish, in their quest to colonize "unclaimed" lands.

One of the things they steal - with her grudging consent - is an enslaved woman, Maria. This is her story, and it's based on fact, sketchy though they are in the historical record. There is a brief mention of such a woman on board the Golden Hind in documents relating to this voyage translated and published by Zelia Nuttall in 1914.

From that wisp of a story, Marmery builds Maria's tale, one of heartbreak and danger, fury and love. To be enslaved in any era is a dangerous thing; to navigate that as the sole woman on the high seas crowded in amongst rough sailors is another thing altogether. Having been a slave from childhood, Maria has developed a necessary cunning and the tactics to go with it, in order to keep herself alive. In the Sixteenth century, that's a hard thing to do. On an uncharted ocean, it's even harder. She faces assaults, physical violence, storms, loneliness, unknown native peoples, unknown languages, giant sea creatures, scurvy, disease, and icebergs, to name just a few of those threats. .

On the whole, this book tells a hair-raising adventure story, made sharper by the fact that Maria herself didn't get a choice about whether to sign on or not. Absolutely a top-notch read.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, it wasnt for me.

I felt like I was plopped down in the middle of Maria's life and was completely confused from the start. I didnt feel like I knew her or came close to understanding her. I understand life was horrible for women at that time in history, but I grew tired of her being raped every other chapter. There was nothing uplifting about this book at all. And I felt like I learned nothing about what life was like for a woman at sea. I did not understand what story the author was trying to tell.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

"Inspired by a true story, this is the tale of one woman and her uncharted voyage of survival.
April 1579: When two ships meet off the Pacific coast of New Spain, an enslaved woman seizes the chance to escape."

Good story, lots of adventure- and misadventures. The resilience of people during this time period always leaves me shaking my head in amazement.

4☆