I love autocomplete and the random paths it takes me down. When I was researching pirates, I found some excellent books on the subject, but I also – of course – used Google. I started to type in a perfectly reasonable question that autocomplete turned into Did pirates wear socks? Another I stumbled across recently was Can dragons blow out candles? The sort of thing that would never occur to me, and I love that there are people out there thinking about these important issues.

When I looked into Caribbean pirates’ footwear before writing the book, I found opinions are split. Some say they wore sandals and others say their feet remained bare. The sandals side argue that climbing the rigging in bare feet would have been very uncomfortable; the barefoot people argue that it would be safer to climb with bare feet.

Looking at various engravings of famous pirate captains from the time, they’re variously wearing shoes or boots, but there are often bare-footed pirates around them. And given that I have a bit of a horror of feet, studying them in engravings is not something I undertook lightly! I’m still not quite certain on pirates’ footwear. The one thing I am (almost) sure of is that pirates did not wear socks.

A Star to Sail By is released on 30th August and is now available for pre-order.

With Crispin and Billy’s adventures coming out on 30th August, it seems a good time to share the moment Crispin first lays eyes on Billy.

A pirate who had been examining one of the deck guns looked up at the pirate captain’s shout, long dark hair falling around his face. He was even more disgraceful than the other pirates, something Crispin had not thought possible. The man was half-naked, his chest and arms filthy with grime and soot. He wore blue knee breeches, tighter than the petticoat breeches most of the pirates favoured, and even they bore dirty stains. At least the crimson sash around his waist looked clean, though Crispin noted uneasily the two pistols thrust into it. The pirate moved towards his captain, his stride long and easy. He was leanly muscled and taller than many of the other pirates. Almost as tall as Crispin himself, he thought.

“Take this and check it against the contents in the hold,” the captain said, thrusting the manifest at him.

Disreputable as this pirate was, he could evidently read. That fact was unexpected enough for Crispin to look more closely at him as he turned away from his captain, and the world seemed to shift around Crispin. His face… He had seen that face before, worn by a marble carving of the Archangel Gabriel. It had been so perfect he had known it to be the sculptor’s attempt to express the ineffable, finding his answer in a beauty this earth could not contain. But it did. That statue’s face was here and alive, if rather dirty. The high cheekbones, clean jawline, straight nose and lips full enough to cause impure thoughts formed a face that transcended the dirt and grime. Crispin almost forgot it belonged to a pirate until the man, perhaps feeling Crispin’s scrutiny, looked at him. His grey eyes were cold and hostile, like the Atlantic before a storm.

Crispin glanced away, no longer caring if doing so was a sign of weakness. The sculptor had mistaken the angel he was carving, for the man standing on the deck of the Eurydice was Lucifer. There could be no other explanation for such beauty to be subverted in the service of evil and vice.

I’ve been having far more fun that should be legal messing about with pirates for my next book. And the Royal Navy, a little. A Star to Sail By is set in the Caribbean in 1715, during the Golden Age of Piracy. I was working on it during the heatwave we had in the UK earlier in the summer, which helped enormously in imagining what my characters were going through!

I’m looking forward to sharing Billy and Crispin’s adventures with you as they yo-ho-ho across the seven seas, drinking copious amounts of rum as they go.

Abducted by pirates, a naval officer must choose between duty and desire.

All Crispin Merrick has ever wanted is to be a captain in the Royal Navy. On half-pay after the war, he’s reduced to serving on a merchant ship. When pirates board his ship and force Crispin to join their crew, his dream has never seemed further away.

Billy loves the freedom he has as a pirate. As master gunner aboard the most beautiful ship to sail the seas, he couldn’t be happier. But then his captain tasks him with guarding the naval officer they’ve taken on board. Billy loathes the navy. He hates its officers even more.

Crispin is looking for a way to escape when disaster strikes the ship. Beset by danger, Billy and Crispin have to work together. But how can they trust one another when they detest everything the other stands for?

Please be aware that this book contains material some people may find upsetting. Detailed content warnings can be find on the content warnings page on this site.

It seems no time since I discovered we had a pirate on our family line. Ever since then, I’ve been reading and writing 24/7 about pirates, and am thrilled to say that I have a new novel coming out on 30th August, all about pirates. And a little about the Royal Navy.

I’ll post more details closer to the time. For now, I’ll share the gorgeous art that Getcovers have created featuring one of the characters.