Blackbeard’s Treasure
In 1718, eleven-year-old Abigail lives a cosseted, if rather lonely, life as a plantation owner’s daughter in the Caribbean. Secretly, her best friend is her father’s slave, Boubacar, who teaches her the languages of Africa and of slaves. She believes that slavery is a natural way of life, but when vengeful pirates seek out her father, she hears unsettling accusations about his past crimes. To escape the pirates, Abigail liberates herself from constricting girls’ clothes and pretends to be a boy. Boubacar and Abigail begin an adventure on board a pirate ship run by maroons, escaped slaves, under Captain Black Caesar.
Abigail and Boubacar learn to swim, climb ropes, and avoid revolting smells, as they sail off in search of the infamous pirate, Blackbeard, with whom Caesar has a longstanding feud. When they finally encounter Blackbeard, Abigail must control her desire to take revenge for his raids on her father’s plantations and try to find the hidden treasure of this fearsome Admiral of the Black. Abigail’s natural sense of justice quickly becomes conflicted. Her friendships with runaway slaves undermine the ideas of right and wrong which she had always been taught. She learns how the first rule of piracy constantly changes, dependent on a pirate’s circumstances, and she sees how the morality of this pirate world – where the enslaved are forced to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea – mirrors the contradictory values of white, mercantile culture. This story celebrates friendship and family; the languages of Africa; girls and ex-slaves seeking their best lives; the quest for freedom through self-determination. At the emotional heart of Abigail and Boubacar’s adventure is the discovery of family, which they both believed they had lost. This swashbuckler is fun, immersive and illuminating. Highly recommended.
