The Only Life That Mattered: The Short and Merry Lives of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackham
About this audiobook
Fed up with an outlaw existence, Calico Jack Rackam swears off the pirate life, but he hasn’t reckoned with Anne Bonny, a woman who would as soon stab a man as give him a good tumble—that is, unless he’s a pirate.
Soon Jack finds himself out on the high seas again, with Anne by his side and his men spoiling for action. And when they capture a Dutch merchant ship, they pick up an unlikely crewmate as well, an expert sword fighter and topmast seaman who has a secret: he just happens to be a woman named Mary.
Together Jack, Anne, and Mary cut a bold swath through the West Indies, stealing naval sloops, plundering rich merchant ships, and choosing to live a life of freedom—the only life that mattered.
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About the author
James L. Nelson is the award-winning author of more than twenty works of maritime fiction and history. His books cover the gamut from Vikings to piracy in Colonial America, the naval action of the American Revolution, and the Civil War. He currently lives in Harpswell, Maine, with his former Golden Hinde shipmate and wife, Lisa.
Kate Reading is an Audie Award–winning narrator and has received numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine. Her narration has been recognized as Reader of the Year by Publishers Weekly, and by Booklist’s 2019 Top of the List, for the American Library Association. She and her husband, narrator Michael Kramer, record at their home studio in Maryland, Madison Productions. Learn more at KateReadingAudioBooks.com.
