A historical novel you can’t put down. A 17th-century world as recreated by our modern-day writer. Pirate manners, slave ships, the charm of wandering—everything from the first-person point of view, like in a top-notch video game. What an amazing book you’re holding!
Tom Collins dives into the ocean depths. And catches a gaze—piercing, captivating. That’s how the adventures of a 14-year-old boy from the Caribbean island of Nevis begin. Of course, it’s a mermaid’s gaze—the sculpture’s face from the bow of a sunken ship. A man calling himself the Pious grabs onto it, saving his own life. It is he who will give Tom ownership of the “half” of a dark-skinned slave named Bibidо. And not just any slave—a prince, the future leader of a powerful tribe. The hero will travel across half the world to the islands of Cape Verde in order to bring Bibidо back to his homeland. Ahead of him are a fight with a shark, escape from a sugar plantation, friendship with the legendary pirate Bull, and other thrilling adventures.
Bjarne Reuter (born in 1950) is a well-known Danish writer and screenwriter whose work has found new and new fans for more than forty years. With his book “CompassGuidе” he opens a series of contemporary historical novels—reminiscent of great classics, yet belonging to our era both in spirit and language. “The Ring of Prince Faisal,” the English translation of which became widely popular, was nominated for the H. C. Andersen Prize.