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Monday, May 12th • 6:30 PM ET / 11:30 PM IST via Zoom
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Shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards ; Nominated for the Dublin Literary Award
1703, Kinsale, County Cork. Anne Coleman is the illegitimate child of a local lawyer and his maid; disguised as ‘Anthony’ to protect reputations, the mask suits Anne just fine. But, fixated on boats and the sea, she struggles to fit in, and her devoted mother fears for her fiercely independent and impulsive daughter.
When their secrets are exposed, the family emigrates to the new colony of Carolina, but this fresh start will bring devastating loss and stifling responsibilities. Lonely and transgressive, Anne finds comfort only with Bedelia, servant and intimate friend. But her craving for the sea-wandering life and a misjudged marriage to young Gabriel Bonny will compel Anne to take to the sea again, this time around the islands of the Caribbean, famous for plunder and piracy.
Adventure, passion and freedom await, but so do violence and disappointment. And, as she tries to stay true to herself, her hopes and her few precious friendships, Anne Bonny must also face her own privilege and the sacrifices required for enduring love.
Seaborne is the thrilling and sensuous portrait of a young woman out of step with her time and place, but never her heart.
“SEABORNE is a rollicking triumph of passion, and a powerful portrayal of Irish pirate, Anne Bonny––a true original. Faultless in tone, this novel is a wonderfully rendered reimagining of a great historical figure, and confirms (what I already knew) that O’Connor is one of Ireland’s leading historical novelists. Filled with desire, ambition, bravery and soul, this novel is a wonderful achievement.” — Elaine Feeney
“What an immense pleasure it was to read and what a gorgeous and perfect ending. I love how Nuala has given a full fictive life to this incredible woman, and the women she loved, showing us how ‘they cut their own paths. Knew their hearts.’ This book, like Anne’s life, is a fabulous voyage, a wonderful, buoyant tale, sublimely imagined and beautifully told.” — Donal Ryan
About the Author
Nuala O’Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1970, and lives in County Galway, Ireland. She graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA in the Irish language and from Dublin City University with an MA in Translation Studies.
Nuala’s fifth novel NORA (Harper Perennial/New Island, 2021), about Nora Barnacle, wife and muse to James Joyce, was published to critical acclaim in 2021 in the USA, Ireland, the UK, Germany, Croatia, and the Netherlands, and is forthcoming in Estonia and Poland.
NORA was named as a Top 10 2021 historical novel by the New York Times and was the One Dublin One Book choice for 2022. Nuala curated the ‘Love, Says Bloom’ exhibition at MoLI, on the Joyce family, for #Ulysses100.
She is editor at flash fiction e-journal Splonk.
All events are listed in Eastern Time and Irish Standard Time.
