A Readers Guide for Captain Mary

A Reader's Guide for
Captain Mary, Buccaneer

Plot Summary

"I’m Captain Mary. We’ve come to collect the tax my men and I impose on all the ships using the Guadaloupe Passage." It is 1721, when ship captains throughout the Caribbean fear these words uttered by one of the most notorious pirates of the time. Captain Mary, her first mate Petronius, and the crew of the Fury have terrorized shipping throughout the region, creating an empire and amassing a fortune only dreamed of by other pirates. When they capture another unsuspecting French vessel, coldly executing a routine honed by years of practice, they are unaware that storm clouds are gathering on their horizon.

Dr. Alphonse Coulances, a prisoner on the French ship, is given the choice of joining the crew of the Fury or remaining with the French to ultimately meet his fate at the gallows. Captain Mary, in need of a doctor for her own ship and intrigued by Coulances compassionate skill, takes him aboard and finds herself falling in love with him. Mary is soon reminded, however, that her heart can make her vulnerable to her enemies when she learns that her daughter, secretly cared for by an ally, has been kidnaped. Mary must choose between her passion and her piracy, but tries to have it all, sending Coulances to her secret island home, Cache Island, to await her periodic returns.

Setting out to deal with her daughter’s captors, Mary’s empire begins to unravel. Elaina Mayhew, another of Mary’s lovers kept on Cache Island, learns about Mary’s affaire with Coulances, becoming restive with her own relationship with the pirate Captain. Mary’s own doubts about her accidental occupation are inflamed by contact with her daughter, whom she has not seen in many years. But the allure of riches is overwhelming. She does not yet know that her banker and fence, an odious little man upon whom she depends to turn her stolen goods into cash, will fall, shaking her financial world to the core.

Captain Mary’s story is about survival in a hostile, money and class dominated world. Through Mary, author Jacqueline Church Simonds explores the dichotomies between greed and compassion, loyalty and betrayal, love and passion, and vengeance and justice.

The author would be delighted to participate in your group discussion of the book by speaker phone. For more information, please contact us at info@beaglebay.com.

Questions for Discussion:

What role does violence play in this novel? Would your response to the violence have been different if the title character had been a man? In what ways does the violence challenge traditional notions of gender-appropriate behavior?
How were women supposed to behave in the 1700’s? In what ways does Mary seem "liberated?" In what ways does she seem to be over-compensating for the gender role expected by society?
Do you see any parallels in Mary’s life with the ways women must juggle their lives in today’s society? Can you imagine Captain Mary in a corporate boardroom? Have you met any women in business who resemble Captain Mary? In what way?
Do you think Captain Mary only pirates for money? Does she successfully temper her greed with compassion? What do you think she is trying to accomplish with Cache Island? Do you think there is any tension between her motives and goals, and the realities of the pirate life?
What is the relationship between Mary’s sexuality and her life as a pirate? Would you classify Mary’s acts as "gender bending" or something else? What does Mary ultimately learn about love and passion? Comparing Mary’s relationships with Coulances, Mayhew, and Petronius, what were her motives and dilemmas with respect to each? Are there any parallels in modern life?
How does the novel explore the themes of loyalty and betrayal? Are Mary’s expectations of loyalty in others always reasonable? Does she live up to her own sense of loyalty? How has betrayal changed Captain Mary?
How are notions of justice represented in the novel? Comparing and contrasting justice administered by governments with the justice of pirates, what qualities do they share and what makes them different? To what extent can you distinguish between acts of justice and acts of vengeance in the novel? Does the distinction matter?
What does it say about our culture that pirates have been rendered into romantic ideals or children’s play role models? What other "outlaws" has society romanticized? What is so compelling about those who "live outside the law?" To what extent does this subvert our cultural ideals?

Book Clubs and Reading Groups who have read Captain Mary, Buccaneer

Bookends of Colorado Springs
Cheyenne Book Club

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