Margaret Cezair-Thompson

The Pirate's Daughter is a fairly long novel, clocking in at nearly 400 pages, but by the end you're wishing for even more. Within the pages lie romance, intrigue, mystery, loss and redemption. The novel is deeper than what the jacket description would lead one to believe. More than the story of a love affair between Errol Flynn and a young girl, which results in the birth of a daughter, it is a tale rich with themes of identity and belonging, set against the backdrop of a changing Jamaica show more as it gains independence and conflicts between Jamaicans increase. There are tender moments and tense moments, and all of them are riveting. The writing is beautiful and descriptive, carrying the reader away to this tropical island. The characters are so well-developed that it's easy to become absorbed in what happens to them. All in all this was quite an addicting novel by a very talented writer; highly recommended. show less

This novel really bought Jamaica alive for me. The views, the food, the plants and the people are here and I feel as if I have dipped my toes into this country without visiting. This is a joyful read that has its ups and downs. It is interesting for the world events and local politics of Jamaica. This is an ambitious novel and there are lots of characters here, some more convincing than others but the main character is May, the daughter of Ida and of Errol Flynn, who she only meets once. The show more brutal reality of parents going away to America to work and make money is covered here and the violence of the post independence years. The years when May is left without a parent are sad but on the whole, as I said, it is a joyful read full of sunshine and beauty and love. show less

The Pirate’s Daughter spans generations of a Jamaican family, focusing first on Ida Joseph who, as a teenager, has an affair with aging movie star Errol Flynn and bears his daughter May Flynn, the focus of the second half. Usually, I find novels using real people as characters to be irritating, and I am not a big fan of mother/daughter novels, so I had trepidations about reading Cezair-Thomspson' s hefty novel.

My worries were put to rest within the first couple of chapters. The Pirate’s show more Daughter turned out to be a surprisingly delightful read. It has an elegantly constructed plot, complex characters, steady pacing, and a satisfying resolution. The book is about the story, not the writing, which is clean and unobtrusive. Even the author’s use of Jamaican dialect is so natural it blends right into the narrative.

At one point, May is talking with her would-be lover, a character based on novelist and ex-pat Jamaica resident, Ian Fleming, about writing books. He tells her he is thinking of writing a book that would be “Lolita, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Rebecca all mixed together and set in Jamaica.” Cezair-Thompson may not have accomplished such a lofty goal, but she made a respectable effort. The Pirate’s Daughter is a good book. show less

I wasn't sure at first about this book's "hook"--the idea that one of the main characters was the illegitimate daughter of film star Errol Flynn. Fortunately, Flynn's image--on film and in the minds of his lover, daughter, and friends--hovers in the background of the novel, a representative of a more glamorous world gone by and of the rising colonial and racial tensions in Jamaica from the 1960s onward. Cezair-Thompson creates a tangible tropical atmosphere with her lyrical prose, and the show more testy relationship between mother and daughter can be understood by people in all cultures. show less