The Pirates Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

This book was a little hard to sink my teeth into for the 1st third of the book, but after that, I couldn't put it down. I was so fascinated by Errol Flynn and the whole Jamaican Hollywood "Royalty". He was such a wreck. It was like he couldn't help himself. He knew his life was a mess, and he wanted to change. Navy Island was even his way to start over, but he still couldn't get it together. He was such a slime to Ida - really to everyone he cared about. And that's the worse part - he probably really did care about Ida, and knew it was wrong to abandon her and his child, but he did it anyway.

The book was more about his illigetimate daughter, May, and her mother, Ida, growing up and not quite belonging. In May you could see Errol's wrecklessness, but she was able to curb that part of herself as she matured. I think the island probably grounded her, and gave her a sense of belonging. She didn't really fit in anywhere, even in Jamaica, neither white or black, rich but raised poor. But on Navy Island, and in the water, she belonged. This was an excellent story of a girl coming of age, and owning her past - her mother's story and how her mother was betrayed. I loved some of the other characters, like Oni, the wise grandmother up in the hills, always asking "are you a girl or a mongoose". And Karl, who ended up loving her as a daughter, even though he ended up betraying them as well. And Nigel, who was so sweet and wanted more, but did the right thing for May.

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

WINNER OF THE ESSENCE LITERARY AWARD IN FICTION

In 1946, Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler, Errol Flynn, arrived in Jamaica in a storm-ravaged boat. After a long and celebrated career on the silver screen, Flynn spent the last years of his life on a small island off the Jamaican coast, where he fell in love with the people, the paradisiacal setting, and the privacy, and brought a touch of Tinseltown glamour to the West Indian community.

Based on those years, The Pirate’s Daughter imagines an affair between the aging matinee star and Ida, a beautiful local girl. Flynn’s affections are unpredictable but that doesn’t stop Ida from dreaming of a life with him, especially after the birth of their daughter, May.

Margaret Cezair-Thompson weaves stories of mothers and daughters, fathers and lovers, country and kin, into this compelling, dual-generational coming-of-age tale of two women struggling to find their way in a nation wrestling with its own independence.

Reader's Guide:

1. Why does Oni, Ida’s grandmother, always ask Ida if she’s a mongoose or a girl? What is she? What does Oni mean when she says “Sometimes bird hafe learn how fe swim”? How does this saying apply to Ida? To May?

2. What kind of father is Eli Joseph? How does he support Ida? How does he fail her?

3. Why does Ida defy her mother and traditional Jamaica? What does Errol Flynn represent for her?

4. On page 200, Ida wonders if her only choices were “to be a sorry unwed mother or the well-cared-for wife of a man whom she admired but didn’t love.” Do you think she’s right? What were Esme’s choices?

5. What makes May feel like a stranger in her own community and country?

6. How is the racism Ida sees in New York different from that in Jamaica? What accounts for these differences?

7. Why does May resist when Ida tries to tell her about her father, Errol Flynn?

8. How does May’s single meeting with Errol Flynn affect her? How does it affect him? During this meeting, Flynn thinks of all the things he wanted to tell her. Later, when he waits for Ida at the wrong hotel bar, he wishes he could tell Ida several things. What do you think he wants to tell his daughter and her mother?

9. Though Errol Flynn is May’s biological father, many other men are more fatherly towards May. What characters in The Pirate’s Daughter help May come of age?

10. How can May love the land of Jamaica, but not the nation, as she asserts in her letter to Nigel on page 205? How does the landscape of Jamaica energize and empower her? How does the nation affect her?

11. What went wrong with Ian? Why is he with the gunmen when they attack Navy Island? Do you agree with May that their parents’ generation is to blame for the problems of the younger generation? Why or why not?

12. Why does Karl hide Errol’s treasure map from May? And on page 372, why does Karl emphasize that he stole what should have been May’s? What does he think he stole, other than a monetary inheritance?

13. How does Jamaica manifest as more than a setting? How does Cezair-Thompson present Jamaica as a character?

14. How does May’s Treasure Cove tell the story of her family and her country? What are the implications of the untitled manuscript she sends to Nigel?