Set in Ireland in 1650, The Story of the Pirate Queen takes as its subject the life of the Irish clan chief and pirate Grace O''Malley - or Grainne ni Mhaille - who spent her life fighting the forces of Elizabeth 1 before sailing up the Thames for a summit meeting with the English queen. In the book, Grace''s ten-year-old great great granddaughter Maude is being told the story of her ancestor by her tutor, Catherine, on the eve of her betrothal to a much older man in an arranged marriage. As Catherine gradually learns why Maude has been summoned to a castle at the edge of the Atlantic, her tales of Grace''s rebellion and bravery take on more urgency. But can Maude resist her father''s will? What will she make of Grace''s meeting with Queen Elizabeth? And is Catherine endangering them both?
Interwoven into these narratives is an extract from a play Catherine has written about the meeting of Grace and Elizabeth. This turns a straightforward pirate story into an exploration of th
