The Ghost Ship

Following The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears, bestseller Kate Mosse returns with another sweeping historical epic about love in a time of war.

The Ghost Ship floats silently on the water, all guns silenced, all voices quiet. In the hold, the bodies of men who are dead or dying, and those who have hidden. Only two pirates remain on deck, still defending their vessel against the superior firepower of the Dutch fleet. Slavers or freedom fighters, this stretch of water off the Barbary Coast is home to more privateers than any other and this sloop has seen more than its fair share of action. Now, its hull is splintered, the sails tattered and burnt, its gold coins and bullion seized as the spoils of war.

Among those on board are the Huguenot leader of the Siege of St Rochelle, forced to flee when Richelieu's forces took the city in 1628, and the legendary and feared commander of the ship, kidnapped as a child from the island of Tenerife. Both know their fate. If they are arrested, they will be tried, condemned and hung for their crimes. But things are not what they seem.

For the bravest of the men on board are, in fact, women living in disguise to protect their identities: Louise Joubert, to escape a family feud several generations old; and Anna Van Raay, fleeing a miscarriage of justice that would see her taken to the gallows. Both women know that whatever happens, they cannot allow their identities to be discovered.

The Ghost Ship, the third book in The Burning Chambers series, continues the story of the Joubert family and their descendants. A thrilling adventure story of piracy and revenge, lost treasure and family secrets, it ranges from France and Amsterdam to the Canary Islands, and across the high seas.