Product Description

On a Sunday morning in July 1625, Barbary pirates sail into a quiet Cornish bay and storm the church. Their loot: sixty men, women and children, kidnapped and bound for northern Morocco, where they are to be sold in the thronging slave market of the Souq el Ghezel. Amongst them is Catherine Anne Tregenna, a talented young embroiderer. But as her diary reveals, Cat is anything but the subservient and compliant slave that her captors were expecting — and as the coast of England fades from sight, adventure beckons in the East . . . In an exclusive London restaurant, a gift is given that will change Julia Lovat's life. The antique book of Jacobean embroidery delights her, but when she settles down to read it more closely, she unexpectedly discovers within its foxed and faded pages the extraordinary diary of a young Cornish girl, calling to her from across the centuries . . .The stories of these two women are destined to converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner.With handsome pirates, beautiful slave girls, exotic mysteries and Moroccan markets, Crossed Bones is an enthralling adventure of the high seas, based on the real-life raids on the Cornish coast by 17th century Barbary corsairs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266293 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Sainsbury's Magazine
'Fast-paced and exciting, Crossed Bones is the ultimate escapism'

Barbara Erskine
'I really couldn't put it down. Exciting and romantic (oh so romantic!) and there is so much suspense. The descriptions are fabulous'

Publishers Weekly
'Johnson imbues her historical story line with a captivating energy and momentum'

Customer Reviews

Rip-roaring read
This book is a rip-roaring read crammed with history, romance, ghosts, love, heartbreak, white slavery, pirate raids and religion. It's a fictional account of a pirate raid led off of the Cornish coastline in the 1600s, but based on historical facts that have been meticulously researched. Johnson has a marvellous descriptive style of writing that makes the reader feel the fear and uncertainty of the 60 villagers as they are captured and stolen off to sea, heading to places they'd never even dreamed about. She sweeps you along with her story and vividly describes every step of the captives' journey. Their tale is told via the diary kept by Catherine Anne Tregenna, who recorded all of her thoughts in a small book of embroidery designs, squeezing her writing in amongst the patterns. Hundreds of years later this book lands up in the hands of Julia Lovat, and this seamlessly joins the two women's tales together. Julia sets off to discover if Catherine ever made it home to Cornwall and along the way embarks on her own adventures. My only criticism is that I felt the supernatural side of this story could have been developed further, but on the whole I found this to be a gripping read and will definitely look out for more by this author.

At the back of the book there is a list of further recommended reading for anyone who wants to know more about the topics covered in this tale.

The author Jane Johnson's own story is an intriguing one too, and I hope she writes the tale of her adventures one day.

Why aren't there more books like this?
I was really looking forward to this book having been enticed by the cover blurb. I have to say it didn't disappoint. The story begins with the end of Julia's affiar with her friend's husband - his parting gift (accidentally) is a needlework book dating from the 1620s. Written in its margins is the story of Cat a nineteen year old girl living in Cornwall longing for excitement and a route away from a life married off to her cousin Rob. Cat gets her wish in the most unlikely fashion when Berber pirates kidnap her along with many other villagers and plan to sell them as slaves in Morocco. Cat's story is very much the tale of a girl struggling to find a place in the world, whether thats in Cornwall, Morocco or on a pirate ship.
Julia meanwhile is determined to keep this gift that her ex-lover Michael is desperate to get back. She travels to Morocco not only to get away from him but also to follow in Cat's footsteps.
The mirroring of both Cat and Julia with their different journeys was a nice way of building tension and keeping me guessing. As other reviewers have said they are both quite shallow characters - not always illiciting much sympathy from the reader. But the need to know what happened to Cat and find out how her story ends carries the book along at a great pace. My only criticism is that the slightly supernatural element right at the end of the book was unneccesary.
If you want something that has a dash of adventure mixed in with romance, and not too historcial then this could be the book for you.

Utterly captivating!
I was utterly captivated and gripped from the first page to the last. The characters, the historical detail, the amazingly well realised atmosphere of Morocco and Cornwall - I've never been to either yet I could feel the cool greenness of Cornwall, smell the salt in the air and the scent of the gorse, then when reading the chapters set in Morocco I could feel the heat of the sun on my face and smell the spice in the market and the roses in the courtyard even though outside it was grey and chilly in London. This book just carries you away.

The plot is just brilliant, the way the two stories weave together. Crossed Bones is both deliciously romantic and yet unflinchingly honest about relationships and love. And whoever would have thought that mixing embroidery and pirates would make for such a brilliantly page-turning novel? Better than Labyrinth, livelier than Philippa Gregory, better written than Diana Gabaldon. My mother has read and loved it, too, and my neighbour borrowed my copy: everyone agreed this is one of the best new writers they've read in ages.