The Lass That Loves A Sailor
In this instance, however, the lass is a witch, and the sailor is a pirate…
Sea Witch, by Helen Hollick, isn’t a new release, but it was my recent, very belated introduction to Jesamiah Acorne and Tiola Oldstagh. Jesamiah doggedly kept interfering in my attempts to work on revisions to The Taste of Mead and Ashes this week, until I finally gave up and finished reading his story. Damn his eyes; now I can’t wait to read about his and Tiola’s next adventure.
I met Helen in a taxi as we were both leaving the Historical Novel Society’s UK Conference at Dartington Hall in Devon. We had about ten minutes on the way to the train station to discover that we had similar a interest as writers, namely, sea adventures. In the following weeks, Helen read Nell, and I read Sea Witch. And I think I’ve found another member of my tribe.
Helen created Jesamiah in response to the enthusiasm engendered by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He is a rogue in the same vein as Jack Sparrow, but with a more developed backstory and a carefully camouflaged, touching vulnerability. Make no mistake, he’s still a hard bastard. He is a pirate, after all. But somewhere he has a heart to match his gold teeth. (And despite what his half-brother Phillipe wants to believe, Jesamiah isn’t actually a bastard.)
Jesamiah meets his match and mate in Tiola. She is a healer (which is going to come in handy, believe me), a holder of ancient, inherited power, and one tough cookie. A tiny woman who looks like a doll; do not underestimate her. Men have tried. It didn’t turn out well for them.
In this sea-spray-stained adventure, boy meets girl, girl makes boy forget he met her, boy nearly gets himself killed, girl saves boy from dying in an alley. Boy and girl fall in love, but a pair of villains separates them, and for a while it seems they are lost to one another. And on top of their villainous adversaries, there’s a capricious sea goddess to contend with…
It didn’t take me long to become invested in Jesamiah and Tiola’s relationship and fate. I don’t often find a character instantly likeable, but these two pretty much held me hostage from the start. I confess that I couldn’t help seeing Johnny Depp in the opening chapters, but as the story developed Jesamiah became his own man.
Where Helen really shines, for me, is her language of a ship in flight. She says she is not an experienced sailor, but she has the expertise of James L Nelson behind her and it sings in her writing. I felt I was aboard as Sea Witch pursued her Chase; you can really feel ‘the wind that blows the ship that goes…’ and the heave of the boards beneath your feet. Helen’s understanding of sailing maneuvers is impressive.
Not only has Helen done meticulous investigation into the mechanics of sailing a square-rigger, but her pirates are firmly grounded in research. Sea Witch may have its fantastical aspects, but it is based on actual events, actual ships, and actual people from history.
But not unexpectedly, it’s up to the lass to rescue her beloved, hapless hero.
Sea Witch is a rousing adventure for anyone who has ever wanted to go to sea!
NB: Sea Witch is the first of a series of six books and a series prequel. So it appears that Jesamiah Acorne is going to be hanging over my shoulder and whispering in my ear for some time to come!