I am pleased to announce the publication date of The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet (Koehler Books) is officially set for August 15, 2020.
We will continue to post updates as we work through cover design, illustrations, ARCs and other pre-publication decisions. A brief synopsis of the book is below, with more to come – thanks for your love and support!
An heir to an established land-owning aristocratic family in Barbados, Major Stede Bonnet enjoyed luxuries equal to that of the finest houses in London. Major Stede Bonnet “was a Gentleman of good Reputation” a “Master of a plentiful Fortune,” and was given “the Advantage of a liberal Education.” But, Bonnet’s life in Barbados was not without trials and discontent. The call of the sea, and perhaps more significantly, the push his obligations as a father and husband, cast Major Bonnet onto the unlikely and deliberate course toward piracy. Even now, it is easy to understand how the call of open space, freedom and adventure can have significant impacts on a man’s soul.
Easily likable, by friend and foe, many would be drawn to Bonnet. In his two short years of piracy, Stede Bonnet stood alongside some of the New World’s most notorious pirates, including Charles Vane, Charles Condent (also known as “Billy One-Hand”), Robert Deal, “Calico Jack” John Rackham, Israel Hands, Benjamin Hornigold, William Kidd, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and the pirate to whom Bonnet will forever be connected, Edward Thatch (infamously known around the world as “Blackbeard”).
Follow Major Bonnet through his unlikely and exciting journey among the world’s most well-known and notorious pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy.
