Blackhearts

Gr 9 Up—After spending a year out at sea, "Teach" Drummond begrudgingly returns to the world of late 17th-century British high society that he was born into. He is desperate to return to the ocean and live the life he's always dreamt of. Not that long before his arrival, Anne, a teenage orphan, comes to the Drummond estate to work as a maid to save enough money to sail back to the West Indies, the birthplace of her mother. After a few "meet cute" moments, they fall madly for each other. When they are met with disapproval from the Drummonds and society in general (Anne is biracial, and interracial relationships were not accepted at the time), they desperately struggle to find a way out of their surroundings and hopefully make both of their dreams come true. This historical fiction story of the love between the man who will become Blackbeard and the girl of his dreams relies heavily on the romance elements to sustain it. Even though this takes place in the 1690s, there are very few historical aspects included. Teach comes off as a generic romantic lead and shows little of the qualities that will eventually make him one of the most feared pirates of that time. The book is left open-ended, with room for an eventual sequel.