Jeffrey S. Williams' first novel takes on a legend of piracy -- and one about whom little is truly known.

Sure, some of the basic biographical facts of Anne Bonney's life are a matter of record, but the details -- including her ultimate fate -- are an unsolved mystery. Williams, in Anne Bonney: My Pirate Story (later reprinted as Pirate Spirit: The Adventures of Anne Bonney), gives Bonney a voice, relating her early life and her many frustrations, her relationships with her wealthy father and her mother, a servant with whom he had an affair and later married, her emigration from Ireland to South Carolina, her rebellious tendencies, her elopement with budding young pirate James Bonney, and her infatuation with a dashing, more established pirate captain, Calico Jack Rackham.

She becomes a pirate, of course, and disguises herself as a man -- albeit one who has a very obvious relationship with the captain. And, in one of history's great ironies, they eventually capture a vessel and take onboard a young volunteer who turns out to be another woman disguised as a man, Mary Read.

They become the closest of friends.

Their adventures together are cut short, of course, when their vessel is captured. The execution of the men is an established part of history, as is the stay of execution for the women, both of whom were pregnant at the time. Read eventually died in prison, while Bonney disappeared from history, her fate unknown.

Williams takes the framework of Bonney's history and brings her to life. Through her eyes, readers will get a taste of the brutal life and difficult choices Bonney faced along the way. Some will quibble with Williams' conclusion -- his entirely fictional outcome for Bonney seems, to me, too tidy for belief -- but fans of happy endings will enjoy the fairytale aspect of his final chapters. The book also veers sharply into Christian fiction along the way, giving Bonney a redemption arc that doesn't jibe with her character.

It's a fast read and I enjoyed most of it. People who like their pirate tales sprinkled with religion will probably love it.