The Pirate's Wife

"[A] striking, thoroughly researched depiction of just how much persistence and inventiveness it took for a woman in Colonial America to retain security and dignity over the course of her life." —Christian Science Monitor Few know that Captain Kidd, one of the most notorious pirates to ever prowl the seas, had an accomplice, a behind-the-scenes player who enabled his plundering and helped him outpace his enemies. That accomplice was his wife, Sarah Kidd, whose extraordinary life is a lesson in reinvention and resourcefulness. Twice widowed by twenty-one and a successful New York merchant in her own right, Sarah secretly aided and abetted her husband, fighting alongside him against his accusers. Marshaling in newly discovered primary source documents, historian and journalist Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos reconstructs Sarah’s extraordinary life, uncovering a rare example of the kind of life that pirate wives lived during the Golden Age of Piracy. This landmark work in women’s history weaves together the personal and the epic in a sweeping story of romance and adventure. "Engaging and well-paced." —Library Journal, starred review "A fascinating story that is as entertaining as it is factual." —Tracey Enerson Wood, internationally bestselling author of The Engineer’s Wife and The War Nurse