Description

[from inner flap of Grossett & Dunlap dj]

Here is Sabatini in his best vein, brilliant, witty, inexhaustible in his stratagems and gallant adventures.

The Black Swan is the rakish pirate ship of Tom Leach, terror of the Spanish Main. As the story opens, Leach has boarded and captured the Centaur, which numbers among its passengers Charles de Bernis and Priscilla Harradine. By his quick wit and bold front, De Bernis saves the lives of his fellow passengers. For the special protection of Priscilla, he passes her off as his wife.

The vision of the Spanish 'plate fleet' dazzles Tom Leach's eyes and De Bernis persuades him to prepare for action by careening the Black Swan in Maldita Cove. It is here that Leach and De Bernis meet with crossed swords, in the most thrilling and spectacular duel that Sabatini ever described.

'The Black Swan' is a story told only as Sabatini, 'prince of storytellers,' can tell it. In all the book there is not a dull page, not one moment when the interest lags.

Notes

What can I say? I love this book. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying romantic adventure in vintage light fiction than The Black Swan, or a more appealing male lead than Charles de Bernis. Sabatini is such a good, solid, assured writer -- apparently, English was his 6th language and he didn't learn it until he was 17, but he employs it with breadth (I had to look up a dozen words -- pernoctation? colubrine?) and verve ("The slush lamps glowed like gigantic fireflies.") And he's famous -- kind of the poor man's Dumas -- for plotting a good, rousing historical tale. I think one of the reasons Swan works so well for me as a female light fiction reader is that, because De Bernis's impenetrability is one of the points on which the suspense hinges, we spend less time getting his interior thoughts & perspective, and more following Priscilla in her attempts to make him out. Priscilla's smart, confident and self-possessed, even beyond her beauty, so she's a fine stand-in for the reader -- no quibbles there. And De Bernis is just such an attractive character: a "gallant" in "foppish finery" (11), ex-(?)-buccaneer, "tall, spare, whipcord", he's keenly intelligent, perceptive, disciplined, and resourceful, while, at the same time feeling himself damaged and damned by his past "I have killed. I have plundered. I have done dreadful things, unutterable things." (184) What main character worth their escalloped bodice (4) wouldn't take this as a challenge to snap the "last frail link with honour" of his restraint? Not Priscilla/us!

Sabatini doesn't get the history exactly right -- the real "Sieur Simon", De Bernis's supposed uncle, wasn't killed by the Spanish defending Catalina from the raid of Perez de Guzman -- he was actually in cahoots with them and sold out the pirate garrison. But this is a small matter.

Read Black Swan for the swashbuckling, the male lead, and one of the best closing lines in all vintage light romantic fiction. Sigh!

Flags: Sabatini does not shy away from violence or the threat (and attempt) of sexual assault. Outdated language and depictions used in reference to native peoples.

Tags

1600s, 1930s, Caribbean, English, French, I'm not good enough for you, administrator, adventure, athletic, beautiful/handsome, blood will tell, brave, courageous, buccaneer, charming, cheerful, clever, competent, determined, disciplined, elegant, f/m, fake marriage, famous, fashionable, filmed, has been, forced proximity, hair, blond(e), hair, dark, independent, intelligent, island, kidnapped, male, opposites attract, practical, principled, protector, pure & innocent, recommended, rescue, reserved, romance, ship/yacht, single, spirited, tall, third-person, tortured, unreadable to other MC, wrong side of tracks, young

Flags

insensitive or outdated language (race/ethnicity/disability/sexual orientation), sexual assault