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The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe
An inventive and playful fantasy-adventure about an abandoned girl, a friendly ogress and a terrible curse from the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of Dragon Skin and Lenny's Book of Everything.
'A fabulous magical quest, strange and wonderful.' Judith Rossell, bestselling author of The Midwatch
Lavender Wolfe is a clapperdudgeon, pickpurse and all alone on a wharf when she is snatched by Big Agatha and thrown into the galley of a pirate ship, The Good Marchioness.
Disguised as a boy (for only boys may live in the galley) and renamed Hans Whitby, Lavender has to make her home among the kitchen rats. However, The Good Marchioness is no ordinary ship. Captained by Odyessia Pleasant, a fierce pirate with long blonde hair, violet eyes and a bird's wing in the place of an arm, the crew are on a desperate voyage - to find and return stolen treasure before all those who sail within the cursed pirate ship are turned to sand. Lavender included.
Lavender is quick-witted and sharp as a tack, and as her magic starts to be revealed she finds herself coming under the arresting gaze of Captain Pleasant. Will Lavender help break the curse? Or will she be just another victim of this story within a story within a story, her true identity lost to the sands of time?
An adventure as big as the ocean and as warm as your heart. All aboard!
'A teaspoon of skullduggery, a hearty dollop of swashbuckling and a barrelful of heart ... This magical tale will make any young landlubber long for adventure at sea.' Reece Carter, bestselling author of A Girl Called Corpse
'Exquisite. A marvel of imagination and adventure.' Jaclyn Moriarty, award-winning author of the Kingdoms and Empires series
'Bold, original and gloriously fantastical.' Lian Tanner, award-winning author of Spellhound
'A fabulous magical quest, strange and wonderful.' Judith Rossell, bestselling author of The Midwatch
Lavender Wolfe is a clapperdudgeon, pickpurse and all alone on a wharf when she is snatched by Big Agatha and thrown into the galley of a pirate ship, The Good Marchioness.
Disguised as a boy (for only boys may live in the galley) and renamed Hans Whitby, Lavender has to make her home among the kitchen rats. However, The Good Marchioness is no ordinary ship. Captained by Odyessia Pleasant, a fierce pirate with long blonde hair, violet eyes and a bird's wing in the place of an arm, the crew are on a desperate voyage - to find and return stolen treasure before all those who sail within the cursed pirate ship are turned to sand. Lavender included.
Lavender is quick-witted and sharp as a tack, and as her magic starts to be revealed she finds herself coming under the arresting gaze of Captain Pleasant. Will Lavender help break the curse? Or will she be just another victim of this story within a story within a story, her true identity lost to the sands of time?
An adventure as big as the ocean and as warm as your heart. All aboard!
'A teaspoon of skullduggery, a hearty dollop of swashbuckling and a barrelful of heart ... This magical tale will make any young landlubber long for adventure at sea.' Reece Carter, bestselling author of A Girl Called Corpse
'Exquisite. A marvel of imagination and adventure.' Jaclyn Moriarty, award-winning author of the Kingdoms and Empires series
'Bold, original and gloriously fantastical.' Lian Tanner, award-winning author of Spellhound
400 pages, Hardcover
Published November 18, 2025
About the author
Karen Foxlee
19 books260 followersKaren Foxlee is an Australian author who lives and writes in Queensland. Her young adult novels The Anatomy of Wings (UQP/Knopf/Atlantic) and The Midnight Dress (Knopf/UQP/Hot Key Books) have been published internationally to much acclaim. The Anatomy of Wings won the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book 2008 (South Asia/Pacific), the Dobbie Award 2008, and a Parent’s Choice Gold Award in the U.S. The Midnight Dress was selected as an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults title in 2014. Foxlee’s first middle grade novel Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy (Knopf / Hot Key Books) was published in January 2014 and to date has received several starred reviews.
Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Queensland in 1971. She has worked most of her adult life as a registered nurse, has a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in creative writing, and lives in Gympie, Australia.
Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Queensland in 1971. She has worked most of her adult life as a registered nurse, has a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in creative writing, and lives in Gympie, Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 23, 2025
Apart from crying so hard I had to stop reading (before going back to finish), this was the grandest heart balm, fantasy adventure ever! Completely captivating.
February 13, 2026
This is an amazing story! Great characters and so well told. Normally, I race through books like this but it was so nice to take my time as I loved spending my time with these people (and I don't think I have ever cared so much about a chicken!) My heart broke at the end but soared when Hans decided to learn her letters so this book could be written. A tale within a tale within a tale. Perfect.
December 23, 2025
A child asked to wait in 1719 ends up on the high seas, chasing ghosts and chasing her own adventures. With a magical scullery, a ship full of uncommonly sorts and an ogress.
What’s not to love?
Fans of Jaclyn Moriarty’s ‘Kingdoms and Empress’ series, will love this stand alone story.
Already shortlisted for the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, I foresee author, Karen Foxlee having a great year (deservedly) with this brilliant fantasy adventure for readers +9 years old.
What’s not to love?
Fans of Jaclyn Moriarty’s ‘Kingdoms and Empress’ series, will love this stand alone story.
Already shortlisted for the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, I foresee author, Karen Foxlee having a great year (deservedly) with this brilliant fantasy adventure for readers +9 years old.
April 18, 2026
Karen Foxlee is a weaver of wondrous tales - and The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe is a fabulous.
If you love a magical adventure which is beautifully written and full of quirky, unusual and mysterious characters, this one is for you.
It is 1719 and sometime pickpocket Lavender is waiting for her mum at the Whitby wharf - but her mum never appears. Instead she is scooped up by Big Agatha, a fierce but friendly ogress, and taken aboard a cursed pirate ship.
She becomes one of Agatha’s kitchen rats - and because no girls are allowed in the galley, Lavender Wolfe becomes Hans Whitby.
Lavender desperately tries to hang on to her old identity but the further they sail from Whitby, the weaker her memories become.
She becomes embroiled in the mysterious adventure which sees the weird and wonderful characters aboard the pirate ship desperately trying to find some long lost treasure in order to break a 7 year old curse.
The story is highly original and inventive and is sure to capture the imaginations of lovers of a good magical quest.
If you love a magical adventure which is beautifully written and full of quirky, unusual and mysterious characters, this one is for you.
It is 1719 and sometime pickpocket Lavender is waiting for her mum at the Whitby wharf - but her mum never appears. Instead she is scooped up by Big Agatha, a fierce but friendly ogress, and taken aboard a cursed pirate ship.
She becomes one of Agatha’s kitchen rats - and because no girls are allowed in the galley, Lavender Wolfe becomes Hans Whitby.
Lavender desperately tries to hang on to her old identity but the further they sail from Whitby, the weaker her memories become.
She becomes embroiled in the mysterious adventure which sees the weird and wonderful characters aboard the pirate ship desperately trying to find some long lost treasure in order to break a 7 year old curse.
The story is highly original and inventive and is sure to capture the imaginations of lovers of a good magical quest.
March 10, 2026
This was a wonderfully imaginative, magical story that followed the journey of Lavender Wolfe, aka Hans Whitby, as he/she is stolen/rescued from a wharf where she was waiting for her mother’s return. Now aboard a cursed pirate ship, ‘Hans’ learns all manner of new things and slowly finds a life at sea as a pirate to be not so bad.
The story builds to a tense and emotional ending, and wraps up so satisfyingly perfect.
The illustrations throughout, drawn by Martina Heiduczek, are beautiful.
Set in the early eighteenth century in a slightly alternate world, you’ll be enchanted by everything about this book.
The story builds to a tense and emotional ending, and wraps up so satisfyingly perfect.
The illustrations throughout, drawn by Martina Heiduczek, are beautiful.
Set in the early eighteenth century in a slightly alternate world, you’ll be enchanted by everything about this book.
March 5, 2026
A weird, magical and delightful tale of a girl who waits for her mother and is captured by pirates
July 26, 2026
A fantasy adventure with pirates, curses, search for treasure, and new found friends. It is a children’s book but also a pretty good magical adventure of finding who you are through trying circumstances. Odine the chicken was a highlight.
December 15, 2025
This book is simply beautiful for children and adults alike. So many characters to love and swashbuckling adventure that kept me engaged to the very end. Lavender won my heart!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Some books arrive smelling of the sea before you’ve cracked the spine, and The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee is one of them. Within a few pages you can almost taste the cold rain on a Whitby wharf in 1719, hear the mooring ropes squeak against the stone steps, and feel a small hungry girl waiting there for a mother who has gone into a tavern called The Spotted Duck and not yet come back. This is middle-grade fantasy as Foxlee best loves to write it. Strange. Tender. Hand-stitched with old slang. Strong enough to carry serious feeling without ever talking down to a young reader.
For readers new to Karen Foxlee, her other titles are useful touchstones:
Lenny’s Book of Everything
Dragon Skin
A Most Magical Girl
Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy
Each one of those takes ordinary children and asks them to carry an enormous heart through difficult weather. This new voyage is no different.
The Story, Without Giving the Treasure Away
The setup is a sturdy fairy-tale hook. Lavender, a quick-witted pickpurse trained by her mother Mrs Wolfe, is sitting on the sea steps when she is scooped up by a great, hairy-toed cook called Big Agatha. Before she can argue, Lavender has been renamed Hans Whitby, given two magic dumplings, dressed in boy’s clothes (only boys may live in the galley), and sworn in as the newest kitchen rat of The Good Marchioness, "the most magical and cursed pirate ship that ever sailed the seven seas."
The ship is captained by Odyessia Pleasant, who has long fair hair, sorrowful violet eyes, ribbons on her boots, and a copper-coloured wing instead of a right arm. The Good Marchioness is racing the calendar. She and her crew of strange children must hunt a ghost ship called The Lady Eloise to find a spectral map. If they cannot return a stolen treasure before the dawn of the last day of the seventh year, every soul aboard will be turned to sand. Lavender included.
That is the bones. The marrow of The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee is something quieter and more interesting. The book is, in its own words, a tale within a tale within a tale, and Foxlee threads those nested layers with real skill.
Foxlee’s Voice: Salt, Sugar, and Old Cant
What lifts this book above many of its shelf-mates is the prose. Foxlee has always been a careful writer, but here she leans into the texture of 1719 the way a sailor leans into the wind. Children peel potatoes. A brown hen called Odine sleeps beside a small heart on a pickling shelf. The cook bellows about "magic good luck fair wind potato dumplings." Every other chapter opens with a recipe in the cadence of an old almanack. Winds have names. Names have power. Children carry their true names tucked beside their ribs "like a tiny painting in a locket."
The narrator’s voice, in particular, is a small marvel. It is the voice of a child who once begged outside taverns, now finding bigger words at sea, and the line between innocence and worldly knowing wobbles in a way that feels true. Foxlee trusts her young readers to meet vocabulary head on. Clapperdudgeon. Rum cully. Brisote. Levanter. None of it is glossed clumsily. Context carries the meaning, the way salt carries flavour.
Big Agatha, Captain Pleasant, and the Kitchen Rats
Among the strongest pleasures of The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee is the cast Foxlee gathers below deck. Big Agatha is the kind of character who walks straight off the page. Loud, splattered with sauces, fiercely loving, capable of squeezing a child into "flummery with being loved." Captain Pleasant has a stillness to her that hides a long bruise. The kitchen rats themselves form a working family of misfits.
A few things that earn this book its loyal middle-grade audience:
Real emotional stakes. Abandonment, grief, and complicated feelings about parents are handled with honesty.
A view of friendship between children who do not always like each other but choose each other anyway.
Inventive magic that grows out of the senses. Lavender hears winds. Poppet knows the true measure of things. Tiny Percival writes secret letters on palms.
A gentle, playful approach to gender and selfhood, where rats may become whatever their true heart desires once they go up top.
Martina Heiduczek’s illustrations, which give the book the look of a hand-bound keepsake.
Where the Voyage Drags
A fair review will say so. Readers who like a quick clean current of plot may find the middle third of The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee a little becalmed. Foxlee loves a side adventure, and there are sequences in Spain, the Barbary Coast, and Lisbon that are lovely to read but slow the chase. The story within the story is by design fragmented and circling, told piecemeal by children who keep arguing about how it goes. Some readers will adore that. Others will look longingly at the spectral map and wish for faster sailing.
The final transformations also arrive in a rush. Without giving anything away, the resolution asks a reader to accept several large shifts at once. Younger or more literal readers may want a second pass to catch them all. None of this sinks the ship. It only stops her from being perfect.
For readers new to Karen Foxlee, her other titles are useful touchstones:
Lenny’s Book of Everything
Dragon Skin
A Most Magical Girl
Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy
Each one of those takes ordinary children and asks them to carry an enormous heart through difficult weather. This new voyage is no different.
The Story, Without Giving the Treasure Away
The setup is a sturdy fairy-tale hook. Lavender, a quick-witted pickpurse trained by her mother Mrs Wolfe, is sitting on the sea steps when she is scooped up by a great, hairy-toed cook called Big Agatha. Before she can argue, Lavender has been renamed Hans Whitby, given two magic dumplings, dressed in boy’s clothes (only boys may live in the galley), and sworn in as the newest kitchen rat of The Good Marchioness, "the most magical and cursed pirate ship that ever sailed the seven seas."
The ship is captained by Odyessia Pleasant, who has long fair hair, sorrowful violet eyes, ribbons on her boots, and a copper-coloured wing instead of a right arm. The Good Marchioness is racing the calendar. She and her crew of strange children must hunt a ghost ship called The Lady Eloise to find a spectral map. If they cannot return a stolen treasure before the dawn of the last day of the seventh year, every soul aboard will be turned to sand. Lavender included.
That is the bones. The marrow of The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee is something quieter and more interesting. The book is, in its own words, a tale within a tale within a tale, and Foxlee threads those nested layers with real skill.
Foxlee’s Voice: Salt, Sugar, and Old Cant
What lifts this book above many of its shelf-mates is the prose. Foxlee has always been a careful writer, but here she leans into the texture of 1719 the way a sailor leans into the wind. Children peel potatoes. A brown hen called Odine sleeps beside a small heart on a pickling shelf. The cook bellows about "magic good luck fair wind potato dumplings." Every other chapter opens with a recipe in the cadence of an old almanack. Winds have names. Names have power. Children carry their true names tucked beside their ribs "like a tiny painting in a locket."
The narrator’s voice, in particular, is a small marvel. It is the voice of a child who once begged outside taverns, now finding bigger words at sea, and the line between innocence and worldly knowing wobbles in a way that feels true. Foxlee trusts her young readers to meet vocabulary head on. Clapperdudgeon. Rum cully. Brisote. Levanter. None of it is glossed clumsily. Context carries the meaning, the way salt carries flavour.
Big Agatha, Captain Pleasant, and the Kitchen Rats
Among the strongest pleasures of The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee is the cast Foxlee gathers below deck. Big Agatha is the kind of character who walks straight off the page. Loud, splattered with sauces, fiercely loving, capable of squeezing a child into "flummery with being loved." Captain Pleasant has a stillness to her that hides a long bruise. The kitchen rats themselves form a working family of misfits.
A few things that earn this book its loyal middle-grade audience:
Real emotional stakes. Abandonment, grief, and complicated feelings about parents are handled with honesty.
A view of friendship between children who do not always like each other but choose each other anyway.
Inventive magic that grows out of the senses. Lavender hears winds. Poppet knows the true measure of things. Tiny Percival writes secret letters on palms.
A gentle, playful approach to gender and selfhood, where rats may become whatever their true heart desires once they go up top.
Martina Heiduczek’s illustrations, which give the book the look of a hand-bound keepsake.
Where the Voyage Drags
A fair review will say so. Readers who like a quick clean current of plot may find the middle third of The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee a little becalmed. Foxlee loves a side adventure, and there are sequences in Spain, the Barbary Coast, and Lisbon that are lovely to read but slow the chase. The story within the story is by design fragmented and circling, told piecemeal by children who keep arguing about how it goes. Some readers will adore that. Others will look longingly at the spectral map and wish for faster sailing.
The final transformations also arrive in a rush. Without giving anything away, the resolution asks a reader to accept several large shifts at once. Younger or more literal readers may want a second pass to catch them all. None of this sinks the ship. It only stops her from being perfect.
June 25, 2026
A story within a story within a story
What worked:
The setting aboard the pirate ship is strange, as all children develop their magic. Lavender finds herself below deck working with the kitchen crew. However, Big Agatha says it’s bad luck to have girls in the kitchen, so Lavender immediately has her hair cut off and is given the name Hans Whitby. The children’s magic is varied, as one can measure ingredients by sight, another can fly, and another can summon birds. Big Agatha calls the six children in the kitchen her rats and orders and threatens them. However, rats is an endearing term, and she’s quick to give hugs, offer soothing words, and magic cooking.
Big Agatha and the rats tell a tale about the origin of the ship’s curse, and it’s identifiable by the boldface font. A wizard cast a spell that will take full effect at the end of the year, so the conflict has a deadline to increase tension. As the plot progresses, readers will learn that some of the characters are connected to the original curse. Hans/Lavender begins to understand what’s at stake, and she faces a big choice. Does she try to escape the ship like her friend Colin, or does she stay on the ship and risk the same cursed fate of the crew? The characters’ emotional trials are a highlight.
The author has a creative mind and masterful talent for description and language. The words will make readers think, create vivid mental images, and evoke a full range of emotions. Hans becomes torn about returning to her mother or remaining on the ship as a pirate. She defiantly reminds herself that she’s Lavender, but readers will notice how that inner voice becomes less insistent. Big Agatha is distressed every time one of her kitchen rats joins the crew on deck, as she demonstrates love and caring for them. The author subtly describes the camaraderie among the rats, and readers will become empathetic toward their fates and ever-changing relationships.
What didn’t work as well:
The thing that makes this book special may also make it confusing for young readers. Amazon suggests it for ages eight and older, but 8-year-olds will find connections between the plot and Agatha’s tale confusing. The book is also described as “playful illustrated,” but there are few pictures that don’t significantly impact the story.
The final verdict:
Older middle-grade readers will enjoy this adventure and the author’s inventive world-building. Lavender/Hans is a dynamic character, and her emotional journey is gripping. I recommend you try this book for yourself.
What worked:
The setting aboard the pirate ship is strange, as all children develop their magic. Lavender finds herself below deck working with the kitchen crew. However, Big Agatha says it’s bad luck to have girls in the kitchen, so Lavender immediately has her hair cut off and is given the name Hans Whitby. The children’s magic is varied, as one can measure ingredients by sight, another can fly, and another can summon birds. Big Agatha calls the six children in the kitchen her rats and orders and threatens them. However, rats is an endearing term, and she’s quick to give hugs, offer soothing words, and magic cooking.
Big Agatha and the rats tell a tale about the origin of the ship’s curse, and it’s identifiable by the boldface font. A wizard cast a spell that will take full effect at the end of the year, so the conflict has a deadline to increase tension. As the plot progresses, readers will learn that some of the characters are connected to the original curse. Hans/Lavender begins to understand what’s at stake, and she faces a big choice. Does she try to escape the ship like her friend Colin, or does she stay on the ship and risk the same cursed fate of the crew? The characters’ emotional trials are a highlight.
The author has a creative mind and masterful talent for description and language. The words will make readers think, create vivid mental images, and evoke a full range of emotions. Hans becomes torn about returning to her mother or remaining on the ship as a pirate. She defiantly reminds herself that she’s Lavender, but readers will notice how that inner voice becomes less insistent. Big Agatha is distressed every time one of her kitchen rats joins the crew on deck, as she demonstrates love and caring for them. The author subtly describes the camaraderie among the rats, and readers will become empathetic toward their fates and ever-changing relationships.
What didn’t work as well:
The thing that makes this book special may also make it confusing for young readers. Amazon suggests it for ages eight and older, but 8-year-olds will find connections between the plot and Agatha’s tale confusing. The book is also described as “playful illustrated,” but there are few pictures that don’t significantly impact the story.
The final verdict:
Older middle-grade readers will enjoy this adventure and the author’s inventive world-building. Lavender/Hans is a dynamic character, and her emotional journey is gripping. I recommend you try this book for yourself.
January 1, 2026
She was told she was abandoned, but Lavender refused to believe it. Her mum taught her to pick pockets and steal things to swap for food, but surely she wouldn’t just abandon her?
Lavender was seen alone and scared, and she was stolen herself from the dark streets. Stolen by an ugly woman and smuggled onto a pirate ship called The Good Marchioness. This was not just any ship, but was manned by The Worshipful Company of Uncommon Seaman – renowned from Britain to Barbary.
The sailors aboard were uncommon indeed, all magical in their own way. The Captain has a wing instead of an arm, cursed before birth. The first mate can turn into a ginger cat at will, and the woman who stole Lavender is a cursed ogress. In fact the whole ship is cursed, and on a mission to find a treasure map that will help break it.
This is the reason Lavender was snatched from her seaside home of Whitby. The ogress smelt magic on Lavender. A special skill that would be useful aboard a cursed pirate ship. There were other children too. Poppet had the measure of things, whether it be a recipe, or plans afoot. One girl’s hair could heal any hurt and others are also magically gifted. Lavender is renamed Hans, just as all the other children have new names. She tucks her name down into her heart, determined not to forget who she really is.
A swashbuckling, magical adventure on the high seas! The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe is full of action, curses, wishes, wants and marvels. Stolen children make up much of the cast, all magical in their own way and taken to help a pirate ship captain and her crew, to break a curse that could turn them all to sand.
With beautiful simile and fantastical action, this is a gorgeous read for sophisticated tween readers to enjoy. An almanac’s calendar increases the tension throughout as time runs out for the crew to find what they need to survive. Dastardly pirate behaviour is thwarted by kindness and caring more than once, and a stolen child’s longing to go home is weighed up against the experiences along the way.
Illustrations appear between chapters, adding to the sumptuous story and hardback production, making this a wonderful gift.
Author – Karen Foxlee
Illustrator – Bethany Loveridge
Age – 10+
Publisher – Allen & Unwin
Lavender was seen alone and scared, and she was stolen herself from the dark streets. Stolen by an ugly woman and smuggled onto a pirate ship called The Good Marchioness. This was not just any ship, but was manned by The Worshipful Company of Uncommon Seaman – renowned from Britain to Barbary.
The sailors aboard were uncommon indeed, all magical in their own way. The Captain has a wing instead of an arm, cursed before birth. The first mate can turn into a ginger cat at will, and the woman who stole Lavender is a cursed ogress. In fact the whole ship is cursed, and on a mission to find a treasure map that will help break it.
This is the reason Lavender was snatched from her seaside home of Whitby. The ogress smelt magic on Lavender. A special skill that would be useful aboard a cursed pirate ship. There were other children too. Poppet had the measure of things, whether it be a recipe, or plans afoot. One girl’s hair could heal any hurt and others are also magically gifted. Lavender is renamed Hans, just as all the other children have new names. She tucks her name down into her heart, determined not to forget who she really is.
A swashbuckling, magical adventure on the high seas! The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe is full of action, curses, wishes, wants and marvels. Stolen children make up much of the cast, all magical in their own way and taken to help a pirate ship captain and her crew, to break a curse that could turn them all to sand.
With beautiful simile and fantastical action, this is a gorgeous read for sophisticated tween readers to enjoy. An almanac’s calendar increases the tension throughout as time runs out for the crew to find what they need to survive. Dastardly pirate behaviour is thwarted by kindness and caring more than once, and a stolen child’s longing to go home is weighed up against the experiences along the way.
Illustrations appear between chapters, adding to the sumptuous story and hardback production, making this a wonderful gift.
Author – Karen Foxlee
Illustrator – Bethany Loveridge
Age – 10+
Publisher – Allen & Unwin
December 17, 2025
A delightful tale of magical children, 18th century pirate ships, curses and treasure. A charming intertwining of stories or curses, depending on your point of view. From the outset you feel for Lavender while she waits for her mother on the steps of the harbour. And you wished a better life for her. She becomes part of the greater adventure of a pirate ship at sea and learns that being a girl is not a limit. Many curses and paths cross and ‘Hans Whitby’ learns more about herself and the friends she has made aboard the Golden Marchioness, and being a pirate can be a part of your life but not all of your life.
A tale of adventure and challenge, a good read for YA.
A tale of adventure and challenge, a good read for YA.
December 27, 2025
I bought this for my 9yo niece- and read it to taste for poison. Was thoroughly impressed and I think she will like it too! Cute story with exciting ending that I feel was not a ‘pain tasting’ cliff hanger but still I’d be down to read a sequel if written.
March 9, 2026
A fascinating and magical read with all of the things that personify great children’s literature for all of the good things: action, adventure, treasure, pirates, danger, food, cats, grief and love. Worth reading again and possibly again. Heart capturing.
January 4, 2026
An excellent cozy read full of adventure but also love and care!
January 10, 2026
A lyrical, rollicking tale about Lavender/Hans who sails on a magical pirate ship with a collection of unforgettable shipmates.
March 8, 2026
What a gorgeous children’s book! So innovative and creative, painting a beautiful world of magical children and pirate curses and redemption!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews