When two young women meet under extraordinary circumstances in eighteenth century West Indies they are unified in their desire to escape their oppressive lives. The first, a slave forced to work in a plantation mansion and subjected to terrible cruelty at the hands of the plantation manager. The second, a spirited and rebellious English girl, sent to the West Indies to marry well and combine the wealth of two respectable families. But Fate ensures that one terrible night the two young women have to save each other and run away to a life no less dangerous but certainly a lot more free. As pirates they roam the seas, fight pitched battles against their foes and become embroiled in many a heart quickening adventure. Written in brilliant and sparkling first person narrative Celia Rees has created a wonderful novel in which the past is brought vividly and intimately to life.