This book is well written. I was invested in the two main characters. The world building was excellent. The setting was good. The side characters felt undeveloped. The ending was emotional

Until I read Bonny & Read, I hadn't read many, if any, historical fiction novels in the last year, having gone off them slightly. Maybe I was reading about people or periods that were too familiar to me, but Bonny & Read felt so refreshing!

I've read many novels now, from different genres for all age groups, with strong female characters, but Anne Bonny and Mary Read felt so well fleshed out and real, each had different motivations and journeys, and had to work hard in different ways, fighting in different ways to forge their paths. Anne Bonny was especially interesting, in Julie Walker's interpretation, because her struggle was largely mental, she didn't understand what she wanted her place to be and had to figure out what made her happy or gave her purpose, when the things she first thought she wanted turned out to be disappointing. She was influenced by Mary Read without wanting to become her, and Mary Read wanted many traditionally female things - love and family, but got their through her (often seen as male) talents for fighting and by getting the money and respect she needed to try and build a life for herself and her loved ones by becoming a man in a man's world. Each sought independence of mind in different ways, and in ways I found much more interesting and nuanced than I expected. Mary's relationships, in particular, also meant that the female characters were not the only ones to have traits worthy of respect, while some of the men were foolish, arrogant, or abusive, some were kind, strong, and funny. Likewise, not all of the female characters were role models either, Julie Walker's world, as a result, felt believable and human.

Throw in danger on the high seas, and a fast-paced, though character-driven plot, and the book quickly became one of my favourites, filling the piratey gap that had been left unfilled since I had finished binge-watching Black Sails

Rollicking, pirate-ing fun! I really enjoyed this take on the infamous female pirates. Lots of great boat action, and interesting characters.

This is a spectacularly feminist, exciting, swashbuckling read. It was thrilling to see these two iconic figures take their futures (and history itself) into their own hands. Thank you for the ARC!

Bonny & Read by Julie Walker is a rollicking read, set mainly on the high seas. It follows the little-known story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, female pirates in the 18th century, whose lives were anything but usual for women of their day. Walker vividly brings to life their adventures, along with a cast of characters such as Captain Jack Rackham, and I was plunged into a wonderful world of seafaring piracy. I knew almost nothing about Bonny and Read before I started this brilliant novel, but now I almost feel as though I've visited the past, and experienced the lives of two incredible women, who deserve to be remembered.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I devoured this book, I genuinely didn’t want to put it down. Personally the writing style suited me and flowed easily, making the story a quick read.

I really enjoyed this look at the infamous Bonny and Read. I think even now, people can take inspiration from their refusal to fit into society’s box for them. This is a somewhat romanticised view of their lives - I doubt the men around them were quite so accepting of their presence - and I’d have liked a little more character development for Bonny. But overall, this was an entertaining novel which made me want to go find out more about the true story of these women.

Real swashbuckling tale.
Anne is a rebel, she married a servant in her household and soon realises it was lust not love and they have nothing in common. Mary is the child of a poor family forced to dress as a boy so her aunt will support her family.
Anne runs away and meets a pirate Captain, she persuaded him to steal a ship, and they set out in their adventures.
Mary also runs away, dressed as a boy she becomes a skilful soldier, when the ship she is on is attacked by pirates, she is discovered as a woman by Anne.
The two women form a bond and learn from one another in their adventures and mishaps. Their freedom soon runs out and they are sent to prison, will they survive?

Anne Bonny grew up in South Carolina, privileged but not loved. She elopes with a man who disappoints her and she escapes again as mistress to a pirate. Whilst living the life she loves, Anne meets a fellow sailor and female, Mary Read. Mary was brought up a boy and fought in the army but gave it up for love. After the death of her husband Mary also ran away to sea. Now the two women pirates will become notorious.
Whilst touted in some reviews as a feminist book, I feel that is too easy a label to put on any story with women at the centre. What this book is is really good fun! Yes, the setting in 1720 means that women were seen as wives or whores and Bonny and Read went against convention but this is a very fictionalised version of their story as there is only limited source material. Here Walker has written an engaging and entertaining novel.

“Oh terror of women upon the seas,
And they did sail and they did please
Themselves alone as they did steal
Men’s lives away with ease.” from ‘The Ballad of Bonny & Read’.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Bonny & Read’ by Julie Walker.

This was one of my most anticipated books for the summer of 2022 and I was pleased that it proved to be such a well written and immersive work of historical fiction.

In Captain Charles Johnson’s 1724 publication, ‘A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates’, two extraordinary women, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, became infamous for their seafaring exploits as members of the pirate crew of Captain Jack Rackham.

Julie Walker has expanded on what little is known about the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read and integrated this with sources detailing early 18th Century society, including the closing years of the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean.

I felt that Walker vividly evoked the claustrophobic atmosphere of life at sea, interspersed with the high action and dangers associated with capturing a vessel.

As much as I loved the ‘Treasure Island’ prequel, ‘Black Sails’, this far more gritty and realistic depiction proved very satisfying. In her Acknowledgements Walker includes a list of publications that had assisted in her research.

Overall, I found this an engaging fictional biography that celebrated these remarkable women, who had defied the conventions of their day and earned their places among the rogues gallery of those who were the real life pirates of the Caribbean.

Given her attention to period detail and quality of writing, I definitely will be looking forward to Julie Walker’s future projects.

This book really appealed to me because it focused on the women, rather than them being side attractions / distractions for the male characters. Not only that, but the women were actual pirates!

I loved the first part of the book, discovering what drive Bonny and Read to sea and I also enjoyed the action-packed ending (although I thought this over and done with quite quickly). The action stalled a bit in the middle of the book though.

I loved the descriptions of live on board the ship and the deepening connections and friction between Bonny and Read, but some of the other characters were difficult to keep straight in my head. They did blur together at times!

So good to have strong women at the heart of the action in a traditionally male-dominated genre.

Overall, a really enjoyable book - very different from my usual fare!

Thanks to the author, Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

This book is the story of two of the most infamous pirates of the 1700s, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. These two women were fearsome pirates, making their way in the world of men. The women we are first introduced in the novel are witty and fierce, with some humorous lines, particularly from Anne. Split into three sections, we first learn about Anne, then Mary and about their lives before they join the pirate ship of Captain Jack Rackham. This opening was fun and enjoyable and created characters who you would like to follow. Anne, in particular, had some funny lines, and it was easy to see why Jack was so taken with her so soon.

Unfortunately once the women meet the book starts to fall a little flat. It becomes a series of events that are listed and told to the reader, as opposed to letting them experience the women through the characters and their story. The story moves form the action and danger of piracy towards the feelings of the characters towards each other and their crew, with little development in the side characters. Bonny and Read were notorious as two female pirates in an age of men, yet a great deal of this story is about their romantic relationships. And even these relationships don’t seem to grow organically in the story.

Mary spent her childhood disguised as a boy, and this is touched on, but not picked back up later on. I would loved to have seen more about how this affected her, and if she struggled with her identity after being Mark for the majority of her life. Anne fled a world of privilege, and I would have liked more detail about she struggled moving away from money and status to the impoverished and dangerous life of a pirate. There bond is explored, but I wanted more depth from it. It happens very quickly, and I wanted more to understand their devotion and loyalty towards each other.

There was also little in the way of action sequences. This is a book about pirates with very little actual pirating. I wanted to see more swashbuckling.

As the book reaches its conclusion, it did start to pick up. Mary and Anne are arrested, with the rest of the crew, and spend time in prison, both pregnant. I thought the dark and dirty cells were described well, as was the horror of their fates. Mary and Anne’s bond continue through their imprisonment, and the end scene between them was emotional, as Anne helps Mary through the birth of her child. I thought the ending, from their arrest, was the strongest part of the novel.

Bonny and Read was a quick read, and there were parts I enjoyed, but as a whole I don’t think this was the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a chance to read this eARC

I’ve just finished this book and unfortunately, found that this one wasn’t for me. This review has spoilers.

This author writes beautifully, and has a really easy writing style that makes this a quick read. I adore that someone loves pirates as much as I do and wrote a book on these two women, too often the male pirates get the limelight where female pirates don’t!

I love pirates and strong women and therefore had high hopes. I really enjoyed the beginning of the novel; there were some hilarious moments and witty comments made by both women, particularly Anne, however towards the middle of the novel we seem to lose this. The book tends to become formatted in list-like fashion and verges on being a flat read.

I kind of hoped we would get more pirate action, and more insight into both women’s feelings during their time with Rackam, and a deeper dive into these historically-told ferocious women and the relationship between them. It was common for them to take out a breast to intimidate their victims, I don’t recall this aspect being mentioned. Anne and Mary very much had male alter-ego’s, especially Mary, who grew up as a male and I feel like there was not enough exploration to the psychological aspects of her when she became Mary again.

Towards the end of the book I massively enjoyed the scenes in the cells between Mary and Anne. I thought this was a unique perspective on what could have happened, and I liked that it was Anne that had to help Mary give birth. I also thought it was really interesting that Anne managed, in secret, to continue her life and be remarried into a rich family to raise hers and Mary’s child, as a financial transaction between her father and her husband. I like the idea that Anne got out and survived. Super intriguing. And I kind of hope there might be a second book that maybe goes into this? Does she become domesticated into normal everyday or does she struggle?

Overall, this book is a good exploration of their characteristics, however I think I wanted more from this one.

I received an early copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bonny and Read is the fictionalised story of two real female pirates active during the golden age of piracy. The book introduces the two trailblazing women, shows us how they both ended up joining the crew of Captain Jack Rackham, and focuses primarily on the friendship between the two women as they grow close in a hostile world full of men who don't want them there.

This book is a highly entertaining, feminist tale of women defying gender roles and societal norms. It's also an interesting condemnation of the society that drove people to piracy and law breaking, in a world where the laws were so unjust to women, the working class and anyone who was not a straight white wealthy man.

I had a few issues with this book, mostly the pacing in some places, but the subject matter is so fascinating and told with real passion, that I'll forgive a bit of clunkiness on the technical side. This is a debut , and I'm very interested to see what the author does next.

I saw this book featured on a list of upcoming LGBTQ+ books, so I was expecting a bit more on that end. Mary and Anne certainly defy gender roles and preconceived notions of womanhood for the time, and this could certainly be read as an exploration of gender, but the two characters do seem to be presented as cisgender women defying societal norms more so than characters who do not identify with their assigned gender at birth.

This book will appeal greatly to readers of feminist historical fiction, those with an interest in trailblazing women in history, or fans the TV series "Black Sails" which also features many of the characters from this book.

When I initially picked up the novel I was enticed by this new take on two strong, historical women with so many unanswered questions. A particular childhood interest in Anne and Mary only piqued my interest that much more upon reading the description.

Through both women's points of view, we get to see contrasting looks at the world: Anne who escapes plenty at the first sign of some fun, and Mary who has worked her way through war and loss to become so skilled. Both women are written to be complex, a bond of their strengthened by their unique positions. There were moments, particularly in the first third of the book, which felt like there might be elements of a romance there (Waterstones placing it in the Pride section also caught my eye) but alas nothing came of it.

For 300 pages, the novel races through the 18 months in which Bonny was an active pirate upon The Revenge. Each chapter is short, encapsulating an idea, a storybeat in two to eight pages before moving forward. It’s easy to find yourself going ‘one more chapter’ and ending up fifty pages further than where you started. However, they feel basic; the chapters don’t go into the depth of detail about a thought or the description of a place before we’re moving along across the seas.

I’m weak for novels – fiction or otherwise – about these two women and I still found myself in tears at the final section of the novel. Even knowing my history, I was expecting tears but actually reading the climax here brought pain and was well written.

I went into this with very few expectations and not really knowing a lot about it. To be fair, the first time I’d heard of this was when I was browsing Netgalley! Having recently read R.J Barker’s The Bone Ships, I was in the mood for more sea-faring adventures; the fact that this was set during the 1700s and in an era I don’t know much about meant I ended up hitting request fairly quickly!

So, Bonny & Read then. I’ll be honest, I did read this in a day, but I’m still in two minds about how much I enjoyed this. I think for this to be coherent, I’m going to split this into the things I did like and the things I wished could have been developed more.

The things I did like:
- I found both characters’ storylines interesting and I liked the exploration of their life before they both became pirates
- I really liked the friendship between Anne and Mary, especially in such a male dominated space
- I enjoyed the historical backdrop and I have to admit, I now want to go and find some books on the Golden Era of Piracy and the pirates who ruled the seas at that time.

Things that I wished had been developed a bit more:
- While I liked the friendship between Anne and Mary, I wished there had been more quiet moments between the two women to really showcase and develop the friendship. Parts of it felt a bit rushed
- My one quibble with the before they became pirates sections is that Anne’s section is a lot shorter than Mary’s - I wished Anne’s had been a bit longer, just because I was curious about how and why she ended up marrying James Bonny
- I also had a slight issue with the pacing - the first and last sections of the book were pretty fast paced, but the middle did drag a bit

On the whole, I’m very much on the fence with this one and I do wonder if it is one that I would get more out of after doing some background reading into the historical context. In terms of pushing myself out of my comfort reading zone, I would say that this was a good choice and I did enjoy elements of this. This is more of a 3.5 stars out 5

Thank you net Galley for providing me with a free arc of Bonny & Read in exchange for a honest review


Honestly I view this book more like a 3.5-3.75 read however rating it just 3 stars seems unfair considering my inability to put this down. The excellent world building and easy to follow writing makes this a fast and easy read. Throughout the whole book I felt like *I was* in a pirate ship as well.

The characters are my main complain considering that I needed more of a development when it came to the side characters, who I truly could never remember or care enough for. The main characters however, Anne and Mary are quite well written and their relationship with each other was for the most part wonderful to read about (saying for the most part considering there was a small instability in the way it was written) . Overall a great read and I would definitely recommend.

(3.5 rounded up) This had definite Pirates of the Caribbean vibes and I knew it would be right up my street - I love a swashbuckling adventure and this had the added bonus of strong female characters trying to find their way in the male-dominated world of piracy.

The drama of the opening grabbed me right away and I knew right away that I would like Anne Bonny as a character. However, I would have liked more background on her, like we get with Mary - her decision to run off and become a pirate seemed a bit abrupt and I wished that I knew more about her upbringing on the plantation first. I really loved Mary’s backstory though, and piracy seemed a logical step for her after all the adversity she’d faced and the unconventional skills she picked up along the way. It gave her much more depth as a character.

The friendship between Anne and Mary was brilliant and complex. I love how they were both immediately drawn to each other and how they both have such vivid but different personalities. I also liked that they came from such different backgrounds, and the impact this has later on.

Overall, a fun story with some exciting and tragic twists. Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wish I could have loved this one as I'm a fan of Black Sails and fascinated by pirates and history.

Unfortunately it just didn't grip me. I found it slow from the beginning and couldn't connect to the characters.

DNF

This is a book about Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two strong women in the 18th century who did not want to live a conventional life.
I did not realise until the epilogue that the story was based on 2 real life women pirates.
I enjoyed reading about Mary and Anne, even though I struggled to empathize with Anne.
The story has 3 distinct parts, how they ended up being pirates, a stint in the Caribbean and life after pirating. The last part I found a bit rushed and sad but realise now that it was following the real life events.
But non the less a very interesting read.