Name: Elizabeth Pengelly
Author: Candace Haskell
ISBN: 9781469109596

Published:

Apr-2001
Formats:

eBook
Main Genre:

General Fiction
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This provocative story about an unconventional heroine opens in 1792 when Elizabeth Pengelly is kidnapped for ransom at sea. This incident unfairly robs the middle-class Elizabeth of her virtuous reputation and she is banished by her proud family to Cornwall. There, Biddy, an old wise servant, inspires her with true tales of bold women who disguised themselves as men and dared the sea to earn their livings. Elizabeth grasps her destiny and begins her gender-bending adventures.By wit and backgammon, Elizabeth lands a position on the ship she'd been kidnapped on. She is taken under the wing of Ben, the ship's gunner, who has a gift for gab and a liking for boys. As Elizabeth learns cutlass and pistol, she also learns to navigate the homoerotic world of sailors while maintaining her disguise. After the crew winds up in Morocco on a pirating stint, Elizabeth becomes reluctantly entangled in the harem of their patron in Sallee. When the patron betrays the ship's crew, Elizabeth must choose between saving her mates or settling into the safe arms of Lalla, one of the patron's wives.Much of the delight of the novel is in the rich, vulgar 18th century sea slang Elizabeth masters and in her education as she learns about the different worlds of male and female love and redefines for herself what is natural. She struggles between her desire for Lalla and her strong, reciprocated attraction to her Captain. But this adventurous life she secretly longed for since childhood may only continue if she keeps herself disguised as a man. Ultimately she learns the hardest lesson of all: what choices must be made to achieve one's dreams.