Piracy. Romance. Revenge. Across the seas of the seventeenth century, two seafarers are forced to fight for their love and their lives. The sequel to The City of Tears, The Ghost Ship is the third novel in The Joubert Family Chronicles from bestselling author Kate Mosse.

This ship is what leads Louise to her destiny and, eventually, her infamous legacy. Her quest to break the rules is heart-pounding and vibrant and taking the journey with Louise ,and following her adventure, is everything you could want in a pirate story.

Featured Reviews

I liked the two main characters and was invested in their romance. For that reason I was tempted to rate the story higher, as Louise and Gilles were amazing. I suspect if they'd appeared in a story not connected with any previous impressions, I'd have been invested in the whole tale more. Unfortunately, because I went into this book with the previous ones in mind, approach the book with the right expectations and suspend disbelief. If I'd known what kind of story I was getting into, I would have taken the multiple accidental murders, unlikely high-seas ventures and diverse slave-hunters at face value and just accepted them. Because I was anticipating a more grounded narrative, I was constantly thinking about the story as a story rather than being immersed in it. Louise Reydon-Joubert makes a spirited protagonist, determined not to let her gender prevent her achieving her ambition to become captain of her own ship, an ambition she has harboured (if you’ll pardon the pun) ever since her first experience aboard a ship as a young girl. In this, Cornelia van Raay, the companion of Louise’s great-aunt, provides an example of a woman making her way in a man’s world, and one in an unconvential relationship. However, several things – and individuals – stand in Louise’s way and even when one of those is unexpectedly removed it doesn’t mean the end of her troubles, but in fact just the beginning. The Ghost Ship is the third in her series of novels featuring the Jouberts. Now before you say ‘I haven’t read the other two’ fear not, it was definitely not necessary. My parents separated when I was five. He [Greg’s biological father] was difficult and obstructive, making life harder than it needed to be for my mother. So when Kate and I decided we would have children and get married, we were confronted with this idea that society expected our children to be named after this awful man. That made no sense whatsoever, so I relinquished that name and we became a family unit of Mosse. It was a corrective decision but also one that reflected the emotional connection I had with Kate, with her parents, and would reinforce our family life, too.

Louise Reydon - Joubert her life in France to meting Gilles Barenton her voyagers at sea to lot of blood and murdersLouise loses her heart that day, swept away by the promise of adventure, of freedom. Everyone is charmed by a girl who loves the sea as much as any boy. All the grizzled seamen, who spend their lives away from the civilising company of women and children, clap their hands. Her cheeks are flushed, her hair has come loose, she is happy. Speak, for the sooner you do, the sooner we might take breakfast.’ He grinned, the lines on his weathered face creasing his pale Northern skin. ‘I find I have an appetite this morning.’ Seeing her hesitate, he reassured her. ‘You can tell me anything, Minou, you know you can.’ A champion of women's creativity, Kate is the Founder Director of the Women's Prizes - the largest annual celebration of women's writing in the world - and is the Founder of the global campaign #WomanInHistory launched in January 2021 to honour, celebrate and promote women’s achievements throughout history. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to literature and women, was named Woman of the Year for her service to the arts in the Everywoman Awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. A regular guest on book & arts shows on radio and television, shealso writes and presents documentaries. To celebrate her 60th birthday, she launched her own YouTube book channel – Kate-Mosse-on-Books – with a monthly show ‘Mosse on a Monday’.