"A thrillingly exhilarating adventure and glorious coming-of-age story, rich in both imagination and history, in perception and truth. I couldn't put the book down."--Donald Sutherland
Nova Scotia, 1952. Not exactly the place you'd expect to run into pirates. But an old mariner, his boat driven ashore in a gale, brings with him enough stories about buccaneers and their lore to make it seem that he must have had firsthand experience of the pirate life. But how is that possible? Captain Charles Johnson's uncanny knowledge of seamanship's dark side fuels the imagination of the young boy he befriends, setting him on his own journey of mysterious adventure.