Customer Reviews

The Pirate's Daughter

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May Flynn, the daughter of actor Errol Flynn and a beautiful Jamaican girl, has always wondered about her roots. Brought up by her mother Ida, grandfather Eli, and, for four years, a foster family, May is clever and tough from a young age. Always an outsider, she could pass for white, though she is not part of the white world of her father and maternal grandfather. Not part of the black world, either, though she considers herself "colored," she is often mocked by her dark Jamaican peers. Frequently alone, she keeps journals, filling them with stories of pirates, inspired by the films starring Errol Flynn which she sees at the local cinema.

As May discovers more about her mother Ida's life before, during, and after her birth, she creates the story of her own life, revealing it through flashbacks. When Errol Flynn's yacht was blown ashore at Port Antonio during a 1946 hurricane, her grandfather Eli drove to his aid, soon becoming Flynn's social secretary, guide, confidant, and real estate broker. Flynn finds the relaxed atmosphere of Jamaica a welcome contrast to Hollywood, where he faces charges related to his affairs with underage girls. He soon builds a palatial estate on Navy Island, off the coast, where he entertains Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Truman Capote, and a host of other Hollywood stars. It is here that Ida, May's mother, first meets Flynn when she is thirteen.

The second part of the novel follows Ida after she gives birth to May. Trying to support her family, she leaves Jamaica (and May) to find work in New York. Her return to the island several years later, and the changes she introduces into May's life, parallel some of the changes occurring on the island itself. Cuban refugees swarm to Jamaica to escape Castro's takeover. An economic downturn and, eventually, Jamaica's own independence from the British lead to competing political movements, violence, and atrocity over the next twenty years.

Filled with colorful characters, the patina of Hollywood, and the violence of political change, the novel is a fast-paced melodrama and family saga. The author's style is clean and simple as she traces lives across generations, providing enough description to enable the reader to create vibrant pictures of the action without bogging down the narrative in detail. Illness, death, financial disaster, smuggling, secret lives, ghost stories, rumors of hidden treasure, a mysterious grave, drug addiction, thwarted love, May-December romances, and shootings are among the many elements which keep the action moving--and keep the reader in a constant state of anticipation. Author Margaret Cezair-Thompson tells the story for its own sake, not to illustrate complex themes. The novel is entertaining, filled with non-stop excitement, and sure to appeal to a wide audience. n Mary Whipple

I had a bit of trouble getting into this book at first. I am not sure why other than the fact that I disliked Errol Flynn as portrayed in this book so much that I didn't care to finish. However, as I kept plugging along I found that I began to care deeply about Ida first and then her daughter May, and finally, about many of the family and friends that surround her. I also found that I became more and more interested in the portrayal of a by-gone era and the happenings on the island of Jamaica.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the portrayal of Errol Flynn, the history of Jamaica, or any of the other stars mentioned. However, I can vouch for the fact that this was an enjoyable story that really made the island of Jamaica come alive in my mind. I am glad that I persevered with this one.

The tale begins with the larger-than-life presence of Errol Flynn, the great swashbuckling hero of the pirate movies, the stage set for an exotic adventure, a movie star who purchases his own private island near Port Antonio, Jamaica, building an estate and a reputation as a playboy extraordinaire, advised by a Port Antonio businessman and friend Eli Joseph. The two men share a love of conversation and grand ideas, Eli failing to notice his thirteen-year-old daughter's adoration of Flynn. Accompanying her father to Navy Island, Ida is enthralled by a luxurious lifestyle beyond her experience. By the time she is fifteen, Ida is pregnant with Flynn's child.

Given this dramatic turn of events, one might expect the movie star to do the right thing by his friend's daughter, but it is not in Flynn's nature to consider the feelings of others, still pursued by litigation for other underage conquests: "He felt as though he had some sort of moral immunity." Flynn sailing away, Ida is overwhelmed, her father in increasingly poor health. Faced with great responsibilities and few choices, Ida provides as best she can for May and Eli, but circumstances defeat her; when an opportunity to make a decent living in New York arises, Ida leaves three-year-old May and her ageing father in the hands of friends, hoping to bring them both to New York.

As many immigrants discover, America is not easily conquered; it is only through a stroke of luck that Ida encounters an acquaintance from Flynn's Navy Island days, Baron Karl von Ausberg. Karl is enchanted by the beautiful young woman and offers marriage. Eventually, Ida returns to Port Antonio as the wife of a baron, but at considerable cost to the relationship with her daughter. While Ida has attended to her husband's needs, May has suffered, taunted and chased by local children, the brunt of their jokes, the child and her grandfather long neglected in Ida's absence. How then to rectify her impulsive decisions, the illegitimate child, the long years of separation, marriage to the baron? Ida's task is daunting, perhaps impossible; the following years offer predictable challenges in a broken relationship, the sensitive May solitary and often taciturn, but diligent in writing an imaginative journal of pirates and their ribald enterprises.

Against this extraordinary background, a portrait emerges, the image shadowed by the movie star who has left two women in his dramatic wake, a daughter's imagination nurtured by the images projected on a theater screen. Everything about this story is larger-than-life, the mortal Flynn dying prematurely, his legacy a lover who still fantasizes about their romantic hours and a daughter who needs much but receives little, other than a chance afternoon with her father. From post-World War II to Jamaica's eventual independence from Britain and chaotic struggle toward self-rule, May struggles with an identity eclipsed by her mother's beauty. The Pirate's Daughter is rich with island history, the growing pains of a country, a cobbled-together family and a tormented young woman addicted to bad choices, but with an abiding love of place. Nowhere else could such a tale be told, Jamaica the lodestone for a family who dares to touch the sun and suffer the consequences, only to prove themselves capable of unconditional love for each other and their country. Luan Gaines/2007.

The Pirate's Daughter is not the sort of book I usually pick up. At first glance it has the look of a romance novel, a genre I don't condemn but one that I feel too pressed for time to invest in. In my mind there are just too many non-fiction books out there, waiting to enlighten me about one thing or another. Fortunately, a friend urged me to give this book a chance and I'm glad I did. The Pirate's Daughter is a wonderful novel with memorable characters. Most impressive, it manages to feel like a true story throughout. I often forgot that I was reading a work of fiction. It all felt so very real. Ida and May, the central characters seem more real in my head than half of the actual living people I know.

Jamaican-born Margaret Cezair-Thompson teaches literature and creative writing at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. After reading The Pirate's Daughter I'm ready to sign up for her class. Her ability to tell an interesting story with great characters while gently nurturing a sense of concern and empathy into readers' minds seems effortless. Beyond the people, Cezair-Thompson leads readers on a memorable tour of Jamaican culture and history without ever once sounding like some shallow tour guide throwing disconnected facts at you.

The novel centers around Ida, a young Jamaican girl who has a love affair with 1950s Hollywood superstar Errol Flynn. The swashbuckling matinee idol lives on Navy Island off the coast of Jamaica and has a working relationship/friendship with Ida's father. What began so simply, however, quickly becomes complex when Ida becomes pregnant. When the baby, May, is born the novel becomes her story too. Spanning decades, The Pirate's Daughter brilliantly mingles the stories of Flynn, Ida, May and Jamaica. Ida and May see their country become independent in 1962 and experience the downward spiral into violence and chaos. But Jamaica's political and social problems in the 1960s and 1970s are not thrown up as a mere backdrop to add fire to the book. Much more is present, including the many positive and unique aspects of Jamaican culture. Caribbean readers will appreciate that The Pirate's Daughter has a legitimate Jamaican feel to it. Anyone who has lived in Jamaica or spent time there will recognize the authenticity behind Cezair-Thompson's work. This is not a story that is "set in Jamaica". This is a story that is genuinely Jamaican.

One of my favorite lines in the book comes in a letter from young May who describes her love for Jamaica.
"Here is a secret about me: I feel strange saying it but I've always been madly in love with the land of my birth--the land, not the nation or state--it's not patriotism; it's landscapism, which is both a passion for the land and a kind of escape. I used to wake up earlier than everyone else when I was a little girl just so I could be alone with the view and have no one intruding between me and the morning air."

Reading The Pirate's Daughter is a sensitive and memorable journey through the lives of two good and interesting Jamaican women. Ida and May are likely to linger in your thoughts long after you finish their story. They are still in mine.


--Guy P. Harrison, author of

Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know About Our Biological Diversity

and

50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God

I struggled to get through this novel. It took so long to get going and it never grabbed me. It's the story of Ida, a Jamaican girl who meets the actor Errol Flynn as a young girl and ends up having a daughter with him. Although the daughter May is the title character, she doesn't really come into the story until the second half of the book. The first part is all about how Ida meets Errol and eventually becomes his lover at the age of 16. The relationship doesn't last and Ida is left to raise her daughter on her own, although she does later marry.

The book is very slow - oddly so, because a lot happens, but the action parts are rushed and the parts between dragged out. The synopsis makes it sound so exciting: pirates' tales, hunting for lost treasure and appearances by stars like Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe. All I can say is while these things are mentioned, they are hardly major elements of the story. It's a book that is more character driven than plot driven: unfortunately the characters are not particularly likeable or even interesting.

Cezair-Thompson seems intimidated by the idea of incorporating Errol Flynn as a fictional character: he never feels real in the way that the other characters do. The idea of using a real person in a piece of fiction is far from new - for example, William Boyd does it very skillfully in "Any Human Heart". But here it feels clumsy and contrived.

Some of the dialogue is written in the Jamaican dialect. Reading other reviews, I guess I'm the minority here, but I found that distracting. It irritates me when I need to slow down my reading to decipher what is being said by sentences like: "Wha'fe you cyan be unfe you".

The one thing that I really loved about this book is the descriptions of Jamaica, which are gorgeous. You can almost smell the rain-scented forests, feel the tropical breezes, see the white bougainvillea fringing the colorfully painted houses. But overall, this book was a disappointment to me.

While THE PIRATE'S DAUGHTER is a work of fiction, Errol Flynn, the central character around which the story is built, was real.

In 1946, while sailing the Caribbean aboard his yacht Zaca, a hurricane forces Flynn to dock in Jamaica. The movie star, who is originally from the island of Tasmania, immediately feels at home. He is captivated by Jamaica's natural beauty and its multi-cultured and multi-colored residents.

Known worldwide for his handsome "swashbuckling hero" portrayal in movies like Captain Blood, Flynn is becoming even more notorious for his hard drinking and womanizing. His adulterous affairs and dalliances with increasingly younger women --- some of them barely out of their early teens --- garner Flynn legal troubles, including statutory rape charges, public outcry and notoriety in the press.

With his private life and media image crashing around him, Flynn seizes the opportunity to find a safe haven in Jamaica, where he hopes to restore himself, revive his career and repair his reputation.

Shortly after his arrival, he meets Eli Joseph, a Lebanese immigrant working as a justice of the peace and taxi driver. That encounter marks the beginning of a business partnership and friendship.

Thirteen-year-old Ida is the daughter of Eli and his common-law wife Esme. While Ida's mother is a stout black woman, whose mixed background is African and Chinese, Ida favors her father. Her long black hair and dark eyebrows draw attention to her large, expressive eyes. Her good looks get her noticed by local boys --- and the island's famous movie star.

Flynn finds the teenager charming. They share a love of horseback riding. He buys her a horse and nicknames it "Ida-Rider," but steers clear of any romantic involvement. He already has one soon-to-be-ex-wife living in California and plans to marry another Hollywood starlet once his divorce is final.

After Flynn buys Navy Island, which centuries earlier had been visited by Captain Bligh, he has a mansion built and swimming pool dug. Flynn becomes a semi-permanent resident and throws lavish parties. Visitors to his mansion include Hollywood stars, world-famous authors and the idle rich.

During his movie-making absences, Ida keeps in touch through letters. She falls in love with him and believes he is in love with her, until he returns to Jamaica with Paulette, his new wife.

When Ida is 15, Flynn invites her to one of his parties. The next morning, while the other guests are passed out or still sleeping, he and Ida go horseback riding. That's when their affair begins.

Before long Ida becomes pregnant. As soon as Flynn finds out about her pregnancy, he hastily departs for London. He leaves it up to his good friend, Baron Karl von Ausberg, to say goodbye.

Months later Ida gives birth to a baby girl. May is fair-skinned, with eyes like her famous father's. Family circumstances as a result of death and illness cause Ida to leave May behind and head for New York, but she promises to return for her daughter.

May is left in the care of a family friend. Growing up, people taunt May for being so light-skinned, and they gossip about her famous father, whom she meets only once. She suffers through a childhood of poverty and abandonment, wondering if her mother will ever return. But above all, May is a survivor.

The sensual descriptions, engaging dialect and captivating characters make THE PIRATE'S DAUGHTER a book that will stay with me. It is an elegantly written saga of love and loss, betrayal and survival, but most of all it is a glimpse at the fragile nature of the human heart.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt (dvolkenannt@charter.net)

The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson is the story of Ida, a beautiful Jamaican girl who falls in love with Errol Flynn, and their daughter May. Ida is lovely, sure of herself, and wanting something more than the tiny home of her parents. When the thirteen year old meets Flynn after he's nearly shipwrecked off the coast of Jamaica, she's immediately smitten with the legend. Flynn is equally smitten with himself, but it takes him years to notice Ida's charms. Despite accusations of statutory rape back in the States, he woos and beds her, until she becomes pregnant. He quickly fills his life with movies and other women while Ida struggles to take care of her daughter, May, and her elderly father who is failing. When she goes to the US to make money to care for them, she runs into an old friend of Flynn's and soon marries the Baron. But May is abandoned in Jamaica for several years. Her incongruous appearance makes it difficult for her to fit in: her light brown hair and white skin confuse both races, but everyone on the island knows who her father is. Eventually Ida and her new husband, Karl, return and raise May who struggles for her identity. This is a fantastic story of two women and how they fight to discover love and how they fit into the world. Ida's desire for more out of life puts her in frightening situations until she finds safety in Karl's arms. But when he betrays her, her sense of loss sends her back to the home she once reviled, and she comes to appreciate its charm. May can't quite figure out who she is. Her skin color doesn't help, neither does an absentee father and distracted mother. May falls in love with Flynn's old friend Nigel Fletcher (modeled after Ian Fleming of James Bond fame), but unlike Flynn, Nigel doesn't give in to his baser instincts and May is both better and worse for it.Violence spills from the main island to Bella Vista, the family's retreat, and their foundations are shaken to the core. Secrets are everywhere, and not all are answered. While the book covers the frightening, complicated political situation of the 1960-70s, it still could serve as a guide for the tourism industry. Navy Island is described in all of its lush glory, and I would love to try an Otaheite apple. This book is so filled with multifaceted and fascinating characters, it's almost an epic. This story is just as complex and rich as its island setting. A great read.

When I first learnt of this book, I thought it was non-fiction. I have been wondering ever since if in fact the story of May is true and would love to know.

The book is quite gripping and a page turner (after the first few chapters). I am disgusted by Errol Flynn and went on to read online biographies about him to see what was in fact truth in the book. Of course, being a Jamaican and knowing Navy Island, I did know that part was true.

The biographies also confirmed that he is in fact a pedophile and had he been living today, he probably would be sharing a jail cell with that other disgusting man they recently arrested in Switzerland - is it Polanski.

Good story though!!

In 1946, one of Hollywood's legendary screen idols, Errol Flynn, built a lavish home on Navy Island, off the coast of Jamaica. In this island paradise, he entertained a host of glamorous Hollywood celebrities and distinguished authors. Here he found a safe haven for the final years of his life. Around this true fact, Jamaican author Margaret Cezair-Thompson has brilliantly created a mesmerizing fictional tale. It tells the story of teenage Ida, a mixed race local beauty, whose brief affair with Flynn results in pregnancy. He hastily flees, leaving Ida penniless. She valiantly strives to raise her daughter, May. While working in New York to earn money for her father's and daughter's care, the tale subtly moves from the story of Ida to the story of May. Meanwhile, Jamaica enters a period of great political unrest, with class and race tensions. Its violent struggle for independence is seen through the eyes of May, as she struggles to find a sense of belonging.

Ms. Cezair-Thompson has beautifully created a truly intriguing storyline with a cast of captivating characters. Actual historic events have been skillfully woven into their lives. Her magnificent writing evokes all the beauty and essence of this tropical paradise and magically brings Jamaica to life. Her lovely and vivid descriptions are utterly breathtaking. In addition, I learned much about the island's fascinating history, culture and its people. I feel completely enchanted by this alluring tropical island! I absolutely loved this engaging, imaginative book and I strongly recommend it!

It's hard to find these three qualities in one novel: enjoyable, moving and smart. "The Pirate's Daughter" is so engaging I never wanted to put it down, and I never wanted it to end. I was pulled into the tropical setting and the multi-national characters' lives, characters who are complex and believable --neither completely evil or good. The writing is lovely with a lot of attention to details. I learned a lot about Jamaica and its history after reading this. This novel was read by my book group, all women, but it's a fascinating book for male readers too. The male characters are strong, captivating characters. The author's portrayal of Errol Flynn, for instance, is psychologically complex and gives a human side to a man few knew beyond his swashbuckling image. I gave the novel to my brother who usually only reads non-fiction and he was pleasantly surprised especially at how the author brought out issues of race and mixed-race without being heavy-handed. Don't let the title fool you: it's not really about pirates. It's everything you want in a good read: family saga, history, escape, and an enchanting prose style. I recommend this especially as a great vacation book.