The Unbinding of Mary Reade: 04/13/20

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara is historical fiction inspired by a woman who disguised herself as a man to be a pirate and sailed with Anne Bonny and Calico Jack — and then fell in love with Anne.

Mary, going by the name Mark, is working on a merchant ship in the Caribbean. They have fled an abusive mother, a wealthy but horrible grandmother, and a playboy boyfriend. All of this is provided as backstory flashbacks for anyone interested. I frankly found that these scenes interrupted the more interesting and fast paced present day story.

The one disappointment with Mark is that I just wanted him to be Mark, rather than so quickly going back to using Mary as a name whenever the masculine clothing was off. If Mark had always though of themself as Mary even when living and working as a man it would be a very different thing. But there are long passages throughout the book where Mark thinks long and hard about how they don't feel like a woman even when dressed and named as one. And yet, put on a dress or take off clothes all together, and suddenly the dead name is back as if nothing had happened.

Four stars

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