Briony Cameron “The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye”

This debut novel from Briony Cameron is an amazing read. The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye is based on the life of a legendary female pirate of the Caribbean. The story begins with a short prologue, set at the start of 1656, with Jacquotte in prison, and awaiting execution, for her supposed crimes as a pirate. The narrative then moves back to the series of events, just three months earlier, in which Jacquotte, a determined woman, aged just 20, moves from being a shipwright to a pirate.  

The early chapters unveil a series of surprises, which force Jacquotte to re-examine her already difficult place in a male-dominated society, as she faces double prejudice. Jacquotte is an assertive young woman, running a successful business, and the mixed race daughter of a white Frenchman and a black local woman. This happens in Saint-Domingue, a Spanish colony in the western part of the island of Hispaniola, a territory that corresponds to the contemporary Haiti. The actions of her father find Jacquotte tangled up in a dangerous political plot, as Florian – her old friend, about to become enemy – challenges the rule of his uncle, the local governor. Coincidentally, the early part of 2024 has sadly seen instability in Haiti, with the collapse of its government, amidst gang warfare in the capital city, Port-au-Prince.  

Wishing to avoid spoilers, I will not say much about what happens once Jacquotte becomes a pirate, but must compliment the many dramatic twists. These stretch across Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and even a long Atlantic voyage south to Brazil – illustrated by a map in the preliminary pages. Briony Cameron packs an enormous degree of detail into the 360 pages of this tale. The narrative moves at a great pace, while the development of the characters of Jacquotte, Marceau (her brother), Teresa (her lover), and their growing circle of friends, is excellent.

As someone who is a bit squeamish, I admit there was a bit more violence than would have suited me, but the author is good at writing fight scenes, particularly an extended battle for control of a town, near the end of the book. This work takes on difficult themes, including slavery and domestic abuse, with the outlaw pirate crew being cast as more enlightened than the people who make the laws. There are some beautiful descriptions of scenery, along with evocative descriptions of the clothes people wear, and the food they eat. Amidst the brutality, there are pauses for some great humour.

This is one of the finest pieces of historical fiction I have read. The publicity for the novel says it “reimagines one of the first purported female pirates to sail the Caribbean in the seventeenth century”. Whenever I read a historical novel, I avoid reading the detailed factual background, to keep clear of possible spoilers. Once I finished The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye, I learned that she was probably not a real person, but has become a legendary character. In that spirit, we should celebrate Briony’s work, as a great development of the story of Jacquotte Delahaye, and a testament to the camaraderie that can be found among society’s underdogs, both past and present.

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron is published in the US by Atria Books on April 6 2024 (the day I am writing this review), and in the UK by Piatkus on June 6 2024.

Many thanks to Piatkus for sending me a free proof copy of the UK edition, ahead of publication, in return for an honest review.

Katy Hays “The Cloisters”

The Cloisters, the debut novel from Katy Hays, was published in 2022, and I caught up with it in the following year. Hays is an academic, living and working in the USA, who has put this experience to good use in the book. The story is told in the first person by Ann, who has just completed university, and is now moving to a Summer job in New York City. After a mix up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ann is transferred to a subsidiary establishment, the Cloisters, which specialises in the Medieval era.

Katy conveys the Gothic beauty, and atmosphere, of the Cloisters in a manner that seems too good to be true. On finishing the book, I found that the Cloisters actually exists, and is much as it is described by the author. Strangely, I already knew the Met was real! Here they are linked in a brilliant novel of intrigue and rivalry, mixing modern day New York with an Occult mystery from Renaissance Italy. Ann is fascinated by both times and places. The book has a beautiful dust jacket design, with a picture of dark plants being visited by red butterflies, while the text has a lot of gold lettering.

Ann begins work as a research assistant for Patrick, who is planning an exhibition on the use of Astrology in the Renaissance, and hoping to find solid evidence for the use of tarot cards, in the prediction of the future, back in the fifteenth century. Patrick, more than twice Ann’s age, already has a young lady, Rachel, engaged in the project. The other main character is Leo, the gardener at the Cloisters, who has a bohemian personality, and chequered career. As the academic story develops, the personal relationships between the four people, including possible or potential romances, help drive a complex, and clever, plot. The character of Ann changes as the book progresses and, midway through, I started to wonder whether she is an unreliable narrator.        

The story is set across a Summer, with the author, via Ann, regularly telling us whether it is June, July, or August. The many August events, often separated by a few days, appear to me to extend to a timeframe beyond the 31 days in the month. I wonder whether Katy kept track of the sequence as she wrote. I have never been to New York, or anywhere in the USA, but felt that Hays’ writing in this book captured the vibrancy of a hot Summer in a city. Parts of the narrative had me recalling working in the centre of London, many years ago.

There are some good minor characters, and I felt more could have been made of Stephen Ketch, a dealer in antiques, and rare books, some of doubtful provenance. I wonder if Katy has read John Steinbeck’s The Short Reign of Pippin IV, where a similar role was played by Charles Martel?

An unsettling atmosphere becomes darker, as the story unfolds. Several developments in the plot turn upon rather unlikely coincidences, and I thought the closing chapters were a bit over dramatic, with revelations that left me without much sympathy for any of the main characters. Despite this, I found The Cloisters an excellent read, and hope Katy Hays is able to follow it with another book before too long.   

I acquired The Cloisters on the same day as The Ghost Ship, by Kate Mosse. The next day I posted pictures on Twitter of both books, mentioning that the cover of Katy’s novel includes an endorsement from Kate. This led to a replies from Kate and Katy, who each confirmed their admiration for the other’s writing. I do not suppose it needed humble me to connect these two great lady writers, but it was pleasing to play a part. A subsequent Tweet from myself about The Cloisters prompted another response from Katy, this time with three black hearts – I wondered if this had a tarot meaning?