A True Account

by Katherine Howe

From New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe comes a daring first-hand account of one young woman's unbelievable adventure as one of the most terrifying sea rovers of all time.

In Boston, as the Golden Age of Piracy comes to a bloody close, Hannah Masury – bound out to service at a waterfront inn since childhood – is ready to take her life into her own hands. When a man is hanged for piracy in the town square and whispers of a treasure in the Caribbean spread, Hannah is forced to flee for her life, disguising herself as a cabin boy in the pitiless crew of the notorious pirate Edward "Ned" Low. To earn the freedom to choose a path for herself, Hannah must hunt down the treasure and change the tides.

Meanwhile, professor Marian Beresford pieces Hannah’s story together in 1930, seeing her own lack of freedom reflected back at her as she watches Hannah's transformation. At the center of Hannah Masury’s account, however, lies a centuries-old mystery that Marian is determined to solve, just as Hannah may have been determined to take it to her grave.

A True Account tells the unforgettable story of two women in different worlds, both shattering the rules of their own society and daring to risk everything to go out on their own account.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Pirates, Mystery, Historical, Audiobook, Adventure

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2023

About the author

Katherine Howe is a #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer of historical fiction and nonfiction. Her best known books are The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2009 and was named one of USA Today's top ten books of the year, and Conversion, which received the 2015 Massachusetts Book Award in young adult literature. In 2014 she edited The Penguin Book of Witches for Penguin Classics, a primary source reader on the history of witchcraft in England and North America. She co-authored the #1 bestselling Vanderbilt: the Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty with CNN's Anderson Cooper, which came out in September 2021. Their next bestselling collaboration, Astor: the Rise and Fall of an American Fortune released September 19, 2023. And her next novel, A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself came out November 21. 2023, and her edited volume The Penguin Book of Pirates came out April 30, 2024. She holds a BA in art history and philosophy from Columbia and an MA in American and New England studies from Boston University, and is completing her doctorate in American studies at the University of East Anglia, A native Houstonian, she lives in New England with her family. She also puts hot sauce on everything.

Reviews

[Katherine Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I've wanted to write for years. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting and thoroughly enjoyable book about two women separated by time and place who dare to pursue their own goals no matter the cost! I was drawn in from the very start and my attention never wavered. I found this book to be gripping, thought provoking, and entertaining.

Golden Age of Piracy - Hannah Masury watches a pirate being hanged in the town square. She is intrigued and awed by him as well as the whispers about treasure in the Caribbean. When she becomes in danger, she runs away and joins the crew of the notorious pirate Edward "Ned" Low as a cabin boy. She has transformed herself from a young woman in service for most of her life, to a pirate! She is on a hunt for treasure!

1930 - Professor Marian Beresford is trying to piece together the story of Hannah Masury after Kay Lonergan, a student, shows her Hannah's diary. Marian is on a quest for the truth and can relate to the confines that society places on women.

Told in two timelines, this book was captivating and hard to put down! I enjoyed both women's tales but especially enjoyed Hannah's tale in the early 18th century. How she became a member of a pirate ship, finding her place in the world while hiding her own identity. Also hiding her identity is Marian who cannot be open about who she loves and desires.

I found this book to be captivating and it proved to be a fast read for me as I did not want to put this book down. I loved the sense of danger, the vivid descriptions, the setting on the high seas, the quest to find treasure, and the search for truth. This was an engaging tale about two women, trying to carve out a place for themselves in a male dominated society.

I had both the physical book and the audiobook. I found the narration on the audiobook to be very well done.

Well written, captivating, hard to put down and well thought out.


Thank you to Henry Holt and Co., goodreads, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com

[Dona's Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the author Katherine Howe, publishers Henry Holt & Co., and as always, NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of A TRUE ACCOUNT. Thank you also to Goodreads Giveaways for my complimentary paperback copy. All views are mine.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. Whenever the narrator takes a bit of distance, as when describing landscapes, the writing is striking.

2. Fascinating history, like, for example, the effects of a starving childhood on a woman's puberty and sexual development, and how, in turn, that translates into insurmountable social pressure in late adolescence and young adulthood. I want more of this!!

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. Some very clichéd images in this book. Cliché isn't constant, just sprinkled in. Like, weary bones loc.834 and shipmates [snoring, like] sawing wood. loc.836

2. I don't really think the second timeline is necessary. It's presence complicates the story unnecessarily. I wish it had been just a straight historical fiction piece.

3. All the curse words are bleeped. Like, "d---" for instance. It's an interesting choice rather than just leaving the curses out. I think this is more authentic to natural speech and thought. Removing curses doesn't really bother me one way or the other.

Rating: 🌊🌊🌊.5 ocean voyages
Recommend? Yes
Finished: Dec 3 23
Format: Digital, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
☠️ pirates
🚢 ship voyages
⌛️ dual timelines
💇‍♀️ girl's coming of age
🏛 historical fiction

[Melissa P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

⚓️ Won in a giveaway 🛶

I wouldn't say I am a huge fan of pirate stories, but I have to admit, they can be very interesting. The details in this book are very well written. If you don't like any horror, it may be difficult to read about the deaths in this book. I'm a fan of horror and thrillers and the brutality in this book even surprised me. It definitely made me feel sympathy towards a lot of people in the story. A woman posing as a boy to survive has been done before but I still really enjoyed Hannah's/Will's journey. I didn't so much enjoy Marian's chapters (she's from another timeline) but it made sense to the story. This book is full of action and I was drawn in very early. This was a genre I don't read often and I was pleasantly surprised. I recommend checking it out. Thank you to the author, Katherine Howe, Henry Holt and Company & Goodreads for my advanced reader's edition. Happy reading. 🦜🏝

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A True Account by Katherine Howe is about Hannah Masury, who, after watching a pirate hang, comes into a bit of trouble of her own and sheds her identity, taking on the name and position of a dead boy and shipping off with pirates. In the course of her adventure, she finds the noose of danger slipping even tighter around herself, and she has to fight not to have what she assumes will be a short life cut even shorter.

The book is also about Marian Beresford, a professor who is struggling against the confines of society in a different way over two hundred years after Hannah. When an undergrad student--Kay Lonergan--produces Hannah's diary, Marian first reluctantly, and then excitedly utilises it to chase down the treasure promised in the pages of the old book.

This is a dual narrative, told in first- and third-person narrative, and while I feel as though the characters in the '30s are less fleshed out than those from the 18th century, it is still a rollicking good read. And boy do the sea scenes just leap off the page! I feel as though I can taste the spray on my tongue and feel the mist as the waves crest and roll. Who doesn't love a good pirate story, especially one so detailed and descriptive as this? Also, I loved the little note from the author about how she based it on not only real people but people she is descended from; that's an extra, delightful little wrinkle!

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Abbey Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a fun read but something about it just fell flat for me. I wanted to enjoy it so much more than I ultimately did, all because the ending sucks so badly that it pulls the entire rest of the book over the edge of the dumpster with it.

The author did a fanatic job of weaving the stories together, and created some fantastic characters. Her love of sailing and pirate lore shines through on every page.... but honestly, the ending bugged me at the time, and days later it bugs me more every time I think about it.

First off, it felt anticlimactically unfinished, but not in that "setting the reader up for the sequel" way (that is as maddening as it is delicious). No, this was a "wait, that's it?" kind of ending. It feels as though our main 20th century narrator never fully gets to the end (or even to the point!) of her own dang story arc; any possible charcter growth is left dangling there with no resolution.

We see her obvious frustration with society and it's silly rules of conduct, specifically those for women and queer people, through the entire novel, and yet she's also a bit uptight and old fashioned? For example, there's her internal monologuing about how much bolder and assertive her female students get with every passing year - could be jealousy, but it comes across as annoyance. Even her queerness makes almost no point whatsoever to the overall story. Her whole character ends up feeling like nothing more than a handy plot device that the author pulls out of the closet (ha! se what I did there!) to use as a vehicle for predetermined plot points.

I feel as though there are so many loose ends that didn't get resolved...

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... FOR EXAMPLE, is that sadistic pirate Hannah's unknown father? That's certainly hinted at, but soooo near the end that there's just not enough time in the plot for it to mean anything! WHY?

And ok, so our dissolutioned profesor ends the novel angry to the point of obsession, and rightfully so, but her final actions/semi-adventure would merely soothe that anger - but not resolve it. BUT WE DON'T KNOW for certain since the author quote literally just stops there. YAY! TREASURE WAS FOUND. THE END. 🙄

Another question : If the lucky couple got back to Massachusetts safely, with enough money to settle down and buy a house and still keep the ruby earrings and other plunder in the writing desk their whole lives, they certainly had enough money to buy a ship and sail back later and dig up the treasure... or was the hoarde in the writing desk ACTUALLY the hidden treasure? I assumed it was just the rest of their plunder they left with at the end of Hannah's story (or earned more of along the way, pirating). Regardless of which it is, why keep THAT MUCH hidden for the rest of your life? Why not fix the damn leaky chimney in your house, or buy a better house entirely? And why return to Beverly at all? Hannah was sold into servitude at such a young age age that she barely remembers her family, so why go home to a town and people you don't even know? By staying near the sea like that they risked being found by the angry pirates! They had enough money to settle anywhere!

And then finally let's dig into our plucky, brilliant undergraduate... who turns out to be a fame-hungry evil genius the whole time? What the hell was up with that? Is her last name Moriarty? Even our professorial narrator fundamentally cannot grasp how this very young woman with so little actual education managed to pull off such an intricate, detailed plan, using just enough perfectly correct archeological details to fool a smart professor, the prof's Indiana Jones-esque father, and daddy's fancy rich Exploiters... uh, I mean EXPLORERS Club. 😉

(Aside: just how exactly did dearest daddy figure out the book was a fake? And when? 🤷🏼‍♀️ His whole character is empty and pointless.)

To get correct all the speech patterns and turns of phrases from such a long-ago era is mind boggling, because it takes years of study to internalize and reproduce that kind of thing correctly! When and how the hell did our little Helle Woods of Strathmore via New Jersey pull that off? The bones of the story come from that dreary diary she catalogued in Beverly, yes, but not the tone of voice or the details that truly sell the item.

It's a patently RIDICULOUS (and time consuming) Rube-Goldberg-Device of a scheme to invent merely for the sake of a little bit of fame. It would have taken her forever to print up the false manuscript (depending on the techniques used, then to sew up the binding, etc., all of which are legit art forms that take time to master. Even if she did indeed skin another sufficiently old book to get the covers, it's not like you can just GLUE in the pages ffs) - and in the basement of an elite rich boy dorm? How exactly? I'm not sure Nancy effing Drew taught THAT skill. Plus think of all the time she'd need to write the thing, including all the pirate and map research necessary to make it at all convincing. WTF?? WHY? Is she secretly a 45 year old evil mastermind con artist with great acting chops and phenomenally young-looking skin?

So you want me to believe that alllllll that work, allllll that time... and it was all for a scheme that is entirely dependent on quickly creating an artifact capable of fooling professional academics & archeologists? If she's TRULY that smart and savvy and fiendishly dedicated to her goal of fame at all costs, to the point of screwing over ANYONE she can use to get there, then she should certainly be smart enough to find an EASIER WAY to get there than this whole ludicrous caper!

Finally, how does a jaded, burnt out professor with decades of experience in academia get THAT far along before asking the most basic questions of provenance? Like where the fuck this kid found such an incredible object of study in her own field that she didn't know about? She's meticulous to the point of paranoia due to the risks of her own queerness, but she gets so bamboozled by possible pirate treasure that her entire nature flies out the window? And co-heading a research expedition WITH AN UNDERGRAD? I just can't, y'all.

[Nyah Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

bruh the pirate story was so good--WHY did the author keep throwing in a barely-fleshed-out present-day plot with a random middle aged woman and then ruin her own story?? Like plz just write Hannah's story thanks. I got so into the pirate story and then I literally would get mad every time the perspective switched to Marian because it pulled me out of it entirely. I'm angry

[Tegan]

A NEW KATHERINE HOWE BOOK.

Excuse me while I go stalk Edelweiss for an ARC.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Goodreads, Henry Holt & Co, and Katherine Howe for the advanced reader's copy of The True Account: Hannah Masury's Soujurn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself in return for this review.

The book centers around two plot lines: 1. the story of Hannah Masury and 2. the story of Marian Beresford and her ambitious student Kay. Taken together, the two storylines showcase the difficulties women faced throughout history. Hannah starts her story as a servant who sneaks out out of work to see a pirate being hanged. After that, a series of events happen so that she must flee in order to save her life. So, in typical fashion, Hannah assumes the role of a boy, hops on a pirate ship, and sails the seas seeking adventure but finding violence and love. Marian's story is actually the sadder of the two. She is a professor struggling to escape her father's influence and reputation. Kay, her student, brings her a great discovery, Hannah's journal and convinces her to get funding from her father's club and run off in search of buried treasure.

Overall, the book was interesting, in parts, and really annoying in other parts. Hannah is presented as a smart woman while the university professor, Marian, is presented as a simpering idiot. The sub plot of Marian's sexuality contributes nothing to the story other than adding another reason to want to smack the character on the head. The fact that a university professor would arrange to travel the world in search of buried treasure with an untrained student is ridiculous. Kay, who happens to be the most interesting character in the "modern" plot turns out to be a self-centered fraud. The storyline of the female professor trying to overcome a male professor's shadow is tired and tiresome.

It is clear that the author was influenced (as she admits) by past pirate stories and personal family narratives. Because of this influence, the plot with the pirates and Hannah feel more developed and, perhaps, more cherished than the Marian-Kay-Father storyline. The endings of both plots were predictable.

This is the second novel I've read by Katherine Howe. Although I cannot say that I like her writing style, her story ideas are entertaining. She is not a quick read author, but one that needs the reader to spend time with the story.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a wild and exciting ride. I almost didn't finish it; there are graphic depictions of violence (I know, I know, it's a book about pirates; what was I expecting?). In the end, though, I kept going, because I wanted so badly to know how it ended! There are multiple twists at the end that had me racing through the last quarter of the book. While one twist wasn't convincing to me (due to an inconsistency that I can't explain without spoiling the book), it was still a fascinating tale. I've never read another book like this one. While I'm not normally one for two-timeline stories, this one brought the timelines together expertly (aside from the really jarring initial transition from Hannah's story to Marian's; I was really confused at first). It's difficult for me to rate this book, because in some ways, it wasn't my cup of tea - but putting aside my personal preferences regarding topics such as foul language and graphic violence, this is a well-written and mesmerizing read.

I received a free digital advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review; I was not required to provide positive feedback.

[Linda Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve loved all of the witch-filled historical fiction by Katherine Howe, and now A True Account takes us into a pirate’s life like no other book I’ve read. Hannah Masury is an indentured servant forced through circumstances to escape her life in Boston. She ends up onboard a ship whose crew mutinies and turns to a life of pirating. No spoilers but if you’re looking for a swashbuckling tale with a few unexpected twists, this is the book to pick up.

[Bookish Venturess · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author did an amazing job with this book. The back and forth of the two stories to make a cohesive book is great. I also loved the ending, I'm glad it turned out the way that it did. The entire book had my attention. The shifts between the retelling of Hannah's story and Marion's story were so easy to understand and not complicated. I just really enjoyed this book and I recommend it if your looking for an adventure.

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic swashbuckling pirate story told in dual timelines .Katherine Howe has written an exciting bpage turning adventure a female pirate beyond exciting.#netgalley #henryholtbooks

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve said it before but I really mean it this time … no more dual timelines. The main story alone could have been a good book but the side story was ridiculous and annoying.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

FUN! I tore through this like a cannonball through sails.

I particularly liked the character of Dr. Marian Beresford, a closeted queer woman trying to keep her life as dull and contained as possible in order to fly under the radar of her strict father and the memories of her mother. Until one day a cheeky undergrad insists she's found a journal, a true account, of life aboard Ned Low's infamous pirate ship. And written by a woman no less. Marian comes alive in her search for the truth about Hannah Masury.

Split between Marian and Hannah's perspectives, the book moves quickly through both women's stories. I literally gasped at the end when I turned the page to find it had ended!

[Aya · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointing! The storyline was great but she had to force a few details to get her brownie points with the woke/ feminist/ alphabet soup crowd. It was totally unnecessary, and it made the book just another piece of political agenda. I wish the books would offer a non political version.

[Christine Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want more of every character! Hannah’s adventures paralleled with Marian’s life in contrast to Kay on her own adventure weave an interesting story about these women looking for control over their own lives. I loved this.

[Karen M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pyrates, or as we know them pirates, are swashbuckling (not sure what that means) romantic heroes of so many stories, but are they really? The pirates we meet in this story are marauding, murdering scoundrels, who just as soon kill you as look at you.

In the 1700’s our heroine, Hannah Masury, finds herself among these pirates, while disguised as a cabin boy named Will,to escape from danger. The danger she was in was due to a young lad who asked her for help just before the pirates took his life and now they are hunting a girl named Hannah Masury.

In 1930, Hannah’s story which was written in her diary, has been discovered by a college student, who convinces her professor to go on an expedition to find the treasure that Hannah, according to her diary, had discovered. The student seems overly interested in publicity and strangely is very adept at attracting reporters with “her” expedition.

I just loved this story told in two different time periods but I admit I was most intrigued by Hannah’s story. I loved watching Errol Flynn swing from the ropes onto another ship and take the beautiful maiden into his arms to be held for ransom, well, until he falls in love with her. Can’t beat romance, LOL. I really enjoyed the characters which were so well written that I had no trouble picturing them in my mind.

I won this book in a First Reads giveaway. Thank you to Henry Holt and Company and the author, Katherine Howe.

[Thomas George Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

A female pirate poses as a cabin boy aboard the ship Reporter. Hannah Masury is an orphan. She is 17 years old. This Novel is based on Hannah's experience pirating the high seas. Evidently no one ever suspects that she is not a boy.

The Novel is set in 1726 Boston. Hannah calls herself Will Chandler. Hannah sails with some of the most notorious and murderous pirates. Through it all, though, Hannah, as Will Chandler, never exposes herself as a fraud.

Ms. Howe has written a colorful account of pirates, lost treasure and a girl who is not afraid to take risks.

[William de_Rham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this double-plotted historical novel set in the 1930s and 1720s highly enjoyable and illuminative. It’s perfect for readers who love tales of the sea, piracy, and the hunt for their treasures. It will also appeal to readers who enjoy novels about women who defy the conventions laid down for them by society to strike out on their own.

In 1930's Cambridge, young Radcliffe student Kay Lonergan brings to history professor Marian Beresford an old, tattered leather-bound volume. It's the account of Hannah Masury, serving girl at a tavern in 1726 Boston who is forced to flee the city for her life. Disguising herself as male, Hannah ships aboard a supposed “fruit trader” as a cabin boy, only to find she has stumbled onto a pirate vessel that complements her talents and personality quite nicely. As do all good pirate tales, the diary mentions a treasure. To burnish her reputation (and also to emerge from her famous father’s shadow), Marian is determined to find that treasure, no matter that it was hidden some 200 years ago.

In a well-researched and tightly written tale, author Katherine Howe interweaves Hannah’s 18th-century piracy with Marian’s 20th-century treasure hunt, taking us from colonial Boston to 1930s Cambridge and New York, to the decks and battles of two pirate ships, to the Florida Keys and neighboring atolls and islands, and back to Salem and other Massachusetts seafaring towns. Along the way, we meet historical figures Cotton Mather and pirates William Fly and Edward “Ned” Low, attend a hanging, visit New York’s famed Explorers Club and Mad Hatter tearoom, and travel by Pullman from New York to the Florida Keys and by Model A Ford from Cambridge up to Salem. Each plot twists and turns and offers more than one surprise.

So, if you like pirate stories and treasure hunts, or adventure tales involving women determined to strike out on their own, this may be the novel for you.

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, I am so sad I didn't like this. I am always on the lookout for a good book about a lady pirate!

Unfortunately this one is not it. At under 300 pages, with two storylines, neither of them felt fleshed out. Every time we would jump to the more modern storyline I would get agitated. I started to skim over those because I did not care for the main characters in that storyline, and the "hunting for pirate treasure" isn't really what I was looking for here. The main character in this storyline is also so so dumb. You're telling me she's a cranky professor who does not believe her student found a pirate journal (or that the journal is faked) and with very little work on her student's part is suddenly convinced it's true, all without asking here WHERE the journal was found?? good lord.

On the flip side, the main storyline with Hannah did have some interesting moments and that's where I was mostly engaged. But again, with not enough time/space dedicated to this story, I never got fully invested. Characters were not really fleshed out. There is basically no character development at all in this book. Hannah, will not nobility or anything, is not a sailor or a pirate. But when she manages to get onto a pirate ship and the time comes, she has no problem hurting/killing people, and even sexually assaulting a woman??? Why? Because the story calls for it. There's no internal monologue or grappling with what she needs to do. Whatever the story calls for, she's ready to go. How does she learn to work on a pirate ship? We don't see any of that, we just know that one of the other pirates "takes her under his wing." All righty then.

Big sad about this one.

[Keila (speedreadstagram) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hannah Masury finds herself in an interesting situation after watching a man hung for piracy. There are whispers of a treasure in the Caribbean spread and Hannah is forced to run for her life. She disguises herself as a cabin boy in the pitiless crew of a notorious pirate ship.

Centuries later, Professor Marian Beresford pieces Hannah’s story together and sees her own lack of freedom reflected back at her. Marian is determined to solve the mystery that Hannah very well may have taken to her grave.

I really wanted to like this book, the premise sounded really interesting, and I couldn’t wait to dive in. The book started out pretty slow, and it was hard to get into. Then without warning we switched characters and a few hundred years. I found the transition really hard. The characters were similar enough that it took a while to figure out whose point of view we were reading. I think there is a missed opportunity to add chapter headers or really anything that will guide the reader along their journey. Once I got over this, I did find myself enjoying the story, but I still struggled. I did appreciate the level of research that seemed to go into this one, it was very apparent.

If you are looking for an interesting historical fiction about a female pirate, then check this one out. Just be prepared for some rough transitions.

Thank you very much to Henry Holt & Company, and Netgalley, @netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Kellie Marie Matthews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know what book these 4 and 5-star reviewers read, but it was not the same book I did. (I desperately wish it had been.)

This book started out strong with a bold character in Hannah Masury and the promise of an adventure. Around the halfway point is when it went so terribly wrong.

Marian’s timeline was utterly pointless, and all the random subplots thrown into it only bogged the story down and turned a leaking ship into a horrific shipwreck.

Hannah’s story of piracy in the open seas was far more interesting, but the inclusion of the blink-and-you-miss-it “twist” was ridiculous and cliched. Then the whole timeline abruptly ends, leaving us with insipid Marian and her stupidity, and it continues to drag on for far more pages than were warranted.

If you still want to give this a shot, then only read Hannah’s story and completely skip over Marian’s. You can thank me later.

[Geonn Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up, slightly... for the most part, a fun story (with an LGBTQ+ lead, which doesn't really factor in too much, so don't expect a lot, but it IS there) that balances jumping between past and present better than most. But the end... and the reveals/twists that happen there... I don't want to get into spoiler territory, but I kept hearing "Let's talk about the villain's plan." It's very easy to suddenly reveal what a villain has done. But if you actually sit down and go through the steps they'd have to take in order to make the plan possible, it's ridiculous and utterly insane. You did AAAAALL of this, for THAT end goal...? Why?? HOW?

And sadly, it was a situation where the ending absolutely does taint the rest of the book leading up to that point.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah Missouri had been in servitude ever since she could remember and although she had dreams of a different life she didn’t think the change would come so soon. In the early 19th century Hannah didn’t have many choices so when she was forced to flee she joined a crew as a cabin boy and unfortunately she picked the name will Chamberlain after a boy she helped after finding him in her mistresses barn she keeps her head down and minds her business and tries to stick close to Seneca a.k.a. Charles Harris for some reason Hannah a.k.a. will feels a bond with him he is the first mate to an evil captain named Ned Lowe and although Hannah find‘s Neds tactics totally severe she too will adopt violence as a way to get ahead and get respect. Over a century later Miriam Beresford is an professor at Cambridge and is approached by a graduate student name K she tells her about a diary written by a pirate named Hannah Missouri and that there may even be a treasure to find. Eventually Miriam will approach her fathers club the Beverly adventurers society to try and get funding for this crazy pirate adventure. Little does her protégé know however she has a lot riding on this
Mainly it is the same old thing she has always wanted her father‘s love and respect. K is overzealous and Miriam has too many secrets to hide such as her desire to give love and get love from women something that wasn’t done in the 30s, so to have this live wire K sending out press reports it’s a bit much. This isn’t the best review which is becoming the norm for me but this is the best book I have a long list of favorite books because I love reading but this is definitely up in my top five this is an awesome read about two women both have secrets and OMG the twist that is the ending of this book was so good and so unexpected and so OMG I have read other books by Catherine Howe both fiction and nonfiction but this one is my absolute favorite I love historical fiction and this is an awesome awesome read I listen to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job she had great character distinction she did Hannah‘s voice so well and the upper crust Miriam was superb I love this book and highly recommend it I want to thank McMillan audio and NetGalley for my free arc copy

[AshWood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story ended up being so much more than I expected. It follows two narratives, that take place about 200 years apart. The first is the story of Hannah, a girl who has no choice but to pose as a boy and accidentally joins a pirate crew. This part is vividly written and very well done, from the complex characters to the descriptions of the ship and sea. Some of the pirate-y things that happen are disturbing, but as I have a mom that is a historian, I know that the writing is just accurately portraying things that commonly occurred, a must for good historical fiction.

The second part of the story follows Marian, a history professor who is reading Hannah’s memoir and trying to prove it’s historical accuracy. At first, I thought Marian’s POV was unnecessary and boring in comparison to the fast-paced pirating POV of Hannah, but it eventually roped me in and I saw the necessity. I still don’t care for Marian’s personality (or Kay’s), but her story definitely tied it all together well in the end.

Overall, the vivid writing and unexpected story make this an easy 4.5 stars! A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Robin C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katherine Howe is well-versed in mariner lingo and the real life of pirates—not the swashbucklers of literature but the gritty, dangerous kind that prowled the seas in the early 18th century. As the title explains, much of the novel is the autobiography of a serving girl fleeing from trouble who disguises herself as a cabin boy and works alongside misfits and desperados of the sea. Although Hannah’s story is fiction, her captain is based on the real, cold-blooded pirate Edward Low. As she learns the ropes and what governs the crew, Hannah’s story is paralleled by a professor, Marian Beresford, who strives to get out of her famous father’s shadow and find Hannah’s buried treasure in 1930.

A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself is a fascinating read. It draws you into these two women’s lives but doesn’t complete the whole picture. You have to paint that in yourself, given the clues provided.

Prerelease book provided by NetGalley for review consideration.

[Dallas Strawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A True Account is a remarkable piece of historical fiction; I typically don't gravitate toward 18th century set novels but I loved the premise here of a woman telling her story of fleeing from danger and disguising herself as a male pirate. The setting is beautifully written; the sea practically leaps off the page; and there's a dual timeline here with a professor in the 1930s uncovering Hannah's self written memoir and tracking down the treasure that is written about...I read it in a day and couldn't put it down! Quite fascinating!

[Maddy LeClaire · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best historical fiction books I’ve read in ages!