Margaret Cezair-Thompson was born in Jamaica, West Indies. She came to the United States at the age of nineteen to attend Barnard College, and then went on to earn a PhD in English from the City University of New York. She is the author of two novels and teaches literature and creative writing at Wellesley College.
Her first novel, The True History of Paradise (to be reprinted by Random House 2009), was short-listed for the Dublin International I.M.P.A.C. award. Her second novel, The Pirate’s Daughter, won the Essence Literary Award for Fiction in 2008. Other publications include short fiction, essays, and articles in Callaloo, The Washington Post, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Graham House Review, and Elle magazine. Her screenplay, Photo Finish, about a Jamaican-American athlete, was sold to Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.
Although she has lived outside Jamaica for some time, Margaret Cezair-Thompson retains strong ties to her native country. Like the main characters of her novels, she was a child when Jamaica became an independent nation in 1962, and she has witnessed the country’s changes, at times with deep concern and always with great interest.
WINNER OF THE ESSENCE LITERARY AWARD IN FICTION
In 1946, Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler, Errol Flynn, arrived in Jamaica in a storm-ravaged boat. After a long and celebrated career on the silver screen, Flynn spent the last years of his life on a small island off the Jamaican coast, where he fell in love with the people, the paradisiacal setting, and the privacy, and brought a touch of Tinseltown glamour to the West Indian community.
Based on those years, The Pirate’s Daughter imagines an affair between the aging matinee star and Ida, a beautiful local girl. Flynn’s affections are unpredictable but that doesn’t stop Ida from dreaming of a life with him, especially after the birth of their daughter, May.
Margaret Cezair-Thompson weaves stories of mothers and daughters, fathers and lovers, country and kin, into this compelling, dual-generational coming-of-age tale of two women struggling to find their way in a nation wrestling with its own independence.
Praise for The Pirate's Daughter:
“A book-club-ready saga with two gorgeous women at its center [and] a knockout ending that reveals treasure buried beneath the sand-encrusted secrets.”
–People (Critic’s Choice)
“[A] delicious premise . . . sets Margaret Cezair-Thompson’s The Pirate’s Daughter in motion, and from there, the novel never stops for breath once.”
–O: The Oprah Magazine
“Enthralling . . . ideal for readers looking to be swept away.”
–The Christian Science Monitor
“[A] ripe romantic novel . . . with page-turning panache . . . a mélange of family saga, love story, and political-historical fiction served up in a tropical setting.”
–The Boston Globe
“The Pirate’s Daughter captures perfectly the essence of Jamaica. . . . Your efforts will be rewarded with rich escape.”
–The Dallas Morning News
“A surprising yarn that is rich, salty and ultimately satisfying . . . The Pirate’s Daughter sparkles with characters real and imagined.”
–The Washington Post
“An unabashedly frangipani-scented–and wholly satisfying–armchair holiday of a read.”
–Vogue
1. Why does Oni, Ida’s grandmother, always ask Ida if she’s a mongoose or a girl? What is she? What does Oni mean when she says “Sometimes bird hafe learn how fe swim”? How does this saying apply to Ida? To May?
2. What kind of father is Eli Joseph? How does he support Ida? How does he fail her?
3. Why does Ida defy her mother and traditional Jamaica? What does Errol Flynn represent for her?
4. On page 200, Ida wonders if her only choices were “to be a sorry unwed mother or the well-cared-for wife of a man whom she admired but didn’t love.” Do you think she’s right? What were Esme’s choices?
5. What makes May feel like a stranger in her own community and country?
6. How is the racism Ida sees in New York different from that in Jamaica? What accounts for these differences?
7. Why does May resist when Ida tries to tell her about her father, Errol Flynn?
8. How does May’s single meeting with Errol Flynn affect her? How does it affect him? During this meeting, Flynn thinks of all the things he wanted to tell her. Later, when he waits for Ida at the wrong hotel bar, he wishes he could tell Ida several things. What do you think he wants to tell his daughter and her mother?
9. Though Errol Flynn is May’s biological father, many other men are more fatherly towards May. What characters in The Pirate’s Daughter help May come of age?
10. How can May love the land of Jamaica, but not the nation, as she asserts in her letter to Nigel on page 205? How does the landscape of Jamaica energize and empower her? How does the nation affect her?
11. What went wrong with Ian? Why is he with the gunmen when they attack Navy Island? Do you agree with May that their parents’ generation is to blame for the problems of the younger generation? Why or why not?
12. Why does Karl hide Errol’s treasure map from May? And on page 372, why does Karl emphasize that he stole what should have been May’s? What does he think he stole, other than a monetary inheritance?
13. How does Jamaica manifest as more than a setting? How does Cezair-Thompson present Jamaica as a character?
14. How does May’s Treasure Cove tell the story of her family and her country? What are the implications of the untitled manuscript she sends to Nigel?
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Distributor: Random House, Inc.
Publication Date: 08-05-2008
Pages: 432
Measurements: 8in X 5.1in X .8in X .67lb
