The Pirate Queen

The Pirate Queen begins in Ireland with the notorious Grace O’Malley, scourge to the most powerful fleets of sixteenth-century Europe. This Irish clan chieftain and pirate queen was a contemporary of Elizabeth I, and a figure whose life is the stuff of myth. Regularly raiding English ships caught off Ireland’s west coast, she commanded two hundred men (and a couple of husbands), and acquired lands and castles that still dot the Irish coastline today. But Grace O’Malley was not alone—especially in the waters of the North Atlantic, where author Barbara Sjoholm traveled through coastal communities and seafaring ports to collect these little-known stories. Since ancient times, women have rowed and sailed, commanded and fished, built boats, and owned fleets. The Pirate Queen brings some of these extraordinary heroines back to life, including Leif Eiríksson’s explorer sister Freydís, and Trouser-Beret, the Norwegian fishing captain. Sjoholm takes readers on an unforgettable journey from the wild Irish coast through the lonely Shetlands and Faroes to the haunting fjords of Iceland and Norway, in this meticulously researched, colorfully written, and truly original work.