Review: The Pirate's Physician by Amy Maroney

Judging the HWA Crown Nonfiction awards has taken up most of my reading time this summer, not that I'm complaining! It's been a pleasure and a privilege, but now I'm gradually catching up with some other reading.  Unless she has any books that she wrote in her teens/childhood hidden away unpublished in a desk drawer somewhere, I can confidently say that I've read all of Amy Maroney's books and novellas. So of course, when I heard that she had a new novella out, I had to read it! (Even if, because I've been working my way through a whole pile of books, it's taken me a while and I missed the launch.)

The Pirate's Physician is a standalone companion novella to the Sea & Stone Chronicles, and readers familiar with those books will recognise the odd name in this new adventure.

It features Giuliana Rinaldi, niece to Amalia, who lives in Genoa and might be able to help when Giuliana finds herself in a desperate predicament. Much of the story is taken up with Giuliana's quest to travel to Genoa, but fate, and scheming characters, conspire to prevent her.

Lucky, then, that a Basque Pirate is on hand to help out...

That's as much as I'll say about the plot, because it's a novella, not a novel, and you won't want to know too much in advance because you'll enjoy savouring every plot twist and turn, and there are plenty of those.

What I love about Maroney's writing is that, seemingly effortlessly, she picks the reader up and drops them right into the heart of her story. You can see the scenes at the harbour, you can hear the creak of the rigging on the ships, you can smell the food and even feel the streets underneath the characters' shoes. To create this world the author has had to undertake a serious amount of research, but she drops the details in so delicately it's like a master baker has slaved all morning in the kitchens and all you see, and get to enjoy, is the beautiful cake.

Giuliana is no fragile, cowering woman, but neither is she a feisty heroine who sits awkwardly in her time period. She is, first and foremost, a product of her age, and that means that she cannot be a full mistress of her own destiny and in this, Maroney reminds us just how dependent - and vulnerable - women were in this era. Along the way, she is offered various choices, none of which is perfect, and we are reminded that compromise was very much the order of the day for women, much more so than for a lot of men, particularly those men with financial independence.

However, there is a flicker of hope. I do hope that we haven't read the last of Giuliana and her pirate...

If you enjoy well-researched authentic historical fiction, with romance, drama, adventure and danger, then this story will not leave you disappointed. I highly recommend it.

Blurb:

When her world shatters, she dares to trust a pirate. Will she survive what comes next?

The Pirate's Physician is the story of Giuliana Rinaldi, a student at Salerno's famed medical school, whose lifelong dream of becoming a physician crumbles when her uncle and mentor dies suddenly.

Faced with an unwanted marriage to a ruthless merchant, Giuliana enlists the help of a Basque pirate and flees the only home she's ever known for the dangers of the open sea.

Will Giuliana make it to Genoa, where her only remaining relative awaits? Or will this impulsive decision seal her own doom?

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