Overview

'Larsson has created a vast, gross and compelling tale of one of literature's most intriguing antiheroes' - Daily Express The true and eventful History of my Life of Liberty and Adventure as a Gentleman of Fortune and Enemy to Mankind. What ever happened to Long John Silver, the enigmatic, treacherous and yet attractively subversive pirate whose exploits made him the anti-hero of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island? He lived out his twilight years on Madagascar, rich, one-legged and attended by a handful of devoted slaves whose freedom he had purchased in the West Indies by inciting them to rebellion. That he had a price on his head and the Navy out looking to bring him to justice bothered him less than the thought of posthumous obscurity. So he set down these memoirs to give his side of the story.

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A bold act of imaginative piracy -- Robert Nye The Times It brilliantly conjures the wit and verve of swashbuckling classics -- Miranda France Daily Telegraph A brilliant swashbuckling sequel -- David Robson Sunday Telegraph It is to Larsson's credit that his version of this pirate is abounding in energy and complexity. Though he is a different man from that wrought by R.L.S., he is enthralling, charged with wit and wiles and a vivacity of speech that are entertaining and clever Scotland on Sunday Larsson's brilliantly-coloured tapestry is worth its weight in gunpowder Figaro

Swedish writer Larsson's first US publication, a retelling of the life of the pirate Silver, is a mild confection, perhaps sweetest for fans of Treasure Island who can rely on that classic to provide the motive to keep turning these many pages. Comfortably retired on Madagascar in 1742, Silver is nettled that all the literature written about his life has got it wrong. Amid his plundered riches and house staff, he opens his recollections during his youth back in Scotland, where he's raised a motherless son by a drunken father. Having learned the knack of plucky self-reliance, he takes to the sea, is shipwrecked, and later is rescued by Dunn, a charitable soul of baffling kindness. Silver falls in love with Eliza, Dunn's daughter, but after he witnesses a murder, the three are forced to flee England. Dunn and Eliza don't make it out, but Dunn's son, the impish, cowardly Deval, clings to Silver like a barnacle. The bulk of the story tells of Silver's adventures at sea. He sails first with Edward England, whose spirit is ultimately snapped by the cruelty of the buccaneer's life; and later with a slave ship, among whose cargo he inspires a rebellion against the vicious Captain Butterworth and his ruthless aide, Scudamore. Sold into slavery himself in St. Thomas, Silver escapes and ultimately joins up with Captain Flint. With Flint, Silver loses his leg when the cowardly Deval shoots him from behind as the pirates board a ship. Silver exacts his revenge by having Deval's leg sawed off and roasted over an open flame - thus, Silver's nickname, Barbecue. The action scenes in these passages are what make the book, since Silver's meditations on slavery, independence, honor, and human rights are something less than stirring. Few of Stevenson's Treasure Island readers, indeed, have been terribly gripped by Silver's inner life. Still, the genial old salt is harmless enough and capable of telling a fair and bloody old memory more often than not. (Kirkus Reviews)

The charismatic anti-hero of Treasure Island is skilfully resurrected to recount the true and eventful history of his life. Secure in his hidden Madagascan fortress Silver fondly addresses his last testament of piracy's golden age. Larsson captures his roguish voice and manipulative, self-serving character with brilliance as this intelligent swashbuckling epic follows Silver's journey from honest sailor to savage pirate. The impossibly harsh conditions that drove men to piracy are as vividly described as the cruelties the Brotherhood inflict upon the high seas. Only a really good writer could get away with using, 'Ah, Jim lad' and convince. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Bj rn Larsson, a Swedish academic steeped in British eighteenth-century sea-lore, was born in 1953. He has lived in the United States and France, and also for six years aboard his yacht Rustica. He has written a previous novel with a maritime setting, The Celtic Ring. Long John Silver has been translated into twelve languages.

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