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altheaann

altheaann

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Crossed Bones

Crossed Bones - Jane Johnson A romance/adventure of a girl from Cornwall who is abducted straight from her church by Barbary pirates, and sold into slavery.
This book was published as 'The Tenth Gift' but I read an ARC which still had the 'Crossed Bones' title on it, and I'm putting my review here because, seriously, I never would have picked it up with the 'Tenth Gift' title on it. Is there even a 'tenth gift' in the story? I don't think so! I want to hear about Pirates!
Anyway, the book is vivid and well-researched. Apparently, the story was inspired by a family legend that a member of the author's family was kidnapped by pirates, and during her research trip to Morocco, the author fell in love with and married a local man. Her love of Morocco comes through loud and clear - too loud, in fact.
The string of unbelievable events and portrayals includes too many things that are solely the province of romance novels; not reality (and this is, at heart, a romance novel.) Too many aspects of the story are quickly whitewashed over. Even if the main character was treated better than the other slaves due to her skill at embroidery - really, you think she's going to forgive and fall in love with the man who caused her family & friends to die in torturous conditions? Sure, Stockholm Syndrome exists, but the way it's treated here is all lovey-dovey and happy, and I can't help going, "uh, what? really?" I suppose there is a faint chance that life as a female slave in Morocco might have been better than life as a free woman in 17th-century England... but if you're gonna try to convince me of that, you're going to have to convince a bit harder.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention anything about the modern-day, 'framing' story, which has to do with a modern woman finding the 17th-century woman's diary, which was given to her accidentally as a parting gift by her friend's husband, with whom she has been having an affair... He turns out to be a frighteningly huge jerk, but all-in-all, the present-day portion of the book is sort of boring and forgettable. I do love connecting antique items (like the book, and a panel of embroidery) to the stories of the past, but really, the 17th-century story is the one you're reading this for.

Oh!! I also forgot about the haunty-ghosty part at the end. That was just dumb, and should have been removed.