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  • Published: 6 September 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448118908
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 448

Mistress of the Sea



An epic, romantic swashbuckling Elizabethan adventure set at the time of Sir Francis Drake, pirates and privateers

Plymouth 1570

Drake’s ship, The Swan, sets sail for the New World with a crew of pirates hell-bent on Spanish treasure. Among them is Will Doonan seeking both his fortune and revenge for the loss of his brother.

But unbeknown to all, young Ellyn Cooksley has stowed away. And her presence aboard ship will prove to be more tempting to Will than gold . . .

  • Published: 6 September 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448118908
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 448

About the author

Jenny Barden

Jenny Barden has had a love of history and adventure ever since an encounter in infancy with a suit of armour at Tamworth Castle. Training as an artist, followed by a career as a city solicitor, did little to help displace her early dream of becoming a knight. Impelled by a fascination with the Age of Discovery, she has travelled widely in South and Central America, and much of the inspiration for Mistress of the Sea came from retracing the footsteps of Francis Drake in Panama.

Jenny has four children and lives in Hertfordshire with her long suffering husband, a loving Labrador and a deadly Bengal cat.

More about Jenny can be found at www.jennybarden.com

Also by Jenny Barden

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Praise for Mistress of the Sea

A fascinating look at a "lost" adventure of English sea-faring--exotic, savage, and altogether engrossing

Diana Gabaldon

Fantastic, really fantastic. Very exciting, and moving, vivid characters, great ending

Richard Lee, founder of the Historical Novel Society

Beautifully written and researched, this tale of desire, revenge, piracy, war and valour is so evocative we can taste salt on our skin and hear the swoop of sails overhead as we're swept up into a high-stakes adventure unlike any we've read before

C.W. Gortner, author of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

A fascinating look at a "lost" adventure of English sea-faring--exotic, savage, and altogether engrossing

Diana Gabaldon, author of the bestselling Outlander series (Cross Stitch, UK)

A captivating and well researched tale of love, duty, and the consequences of actions, set against a vividly described New World

Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review

Brings together all the best elements of historical writing and breathes new life into the craft of epic storytelling. Sharply-drawn, credible characters, perilous adventure, exotic locations and the skilful blending of fact with fiction, make Mistress of the Sea a real page turner

Elaine Saunders, Post-ChickLit Book Group

A fabulous story, and a wonderfully different (but important) perspective on Elizabethan times... Whether you sign up for this journey in search of romance, high-stakes adventure, or just engaging entertainment, there’s something for most everyone here

Sarah Johnson, Reading the Past

On the day Drake's ship is set to sail, Ellyn makes a fateful decision that will change the course of her future - she disguises herself as a boy and stows away on Drake's ship. What follows is the adventure of a lifetime

Confessions of an Avid Reader

A real swash-buckler of a novel that will appeal to all readers. It’s a story that harks back to the very start of the Golden Age of Discovery - the author has weaved a marvellous work of fiction around a very well-known historical figure and his ‘antics’

Stuart MacAllister, Sir Read-A-Lot

The splendid tale of Ellyn, who stows away with Sir Francis Drake to save her father's life and follow the man she's not yet willing to admit she loves. Thick with the voices, as well as the smells, sights, sounds and naval politics of a Tudor universe

Emma Darwin, author of A Secret Alchemy

A swashbuckler of a romance and adventure... Jenny's attention to detail is superb, her writing is skilled, and her sense of adventure is engrossing

Helen Hollick, author of the Pendragon's Banner trilogy

Sizzling…fun, fascinating and vividly drawn…atmospheric, enchanting…Mistress of the Sea is a rip-roaring, escapist adventure story full of action, drama, good guys, bad guys, real history and thrilling romance

Lancashire Evening Post