The Rose of Paradise: Being a Detailed Account of Certain Adventures That Happened to Captain John Mackra, in Connection with the Famous Pirate, Edward England, in the Year 1720, Off the Island of Juanna in the Mozambique Channel; Writ by Himself, and Now for the First Time Published

The year is 1720. Captain John Mackra commands the Cassandra, an East India Company vessel bound for Bombay with gold destined for a local king. When the notorious pirate Edward England surfaces in the Mozambique Channel near the island of Juanna, Mackra faces an impossible choice: surrender his cargo to the pirates, or risk everything in a desperate gamble for survival. What follows is a tense game of cat and mouse across the Indian Ocean, where mutiny lurks in the shadows and a legendary gemstone called the Rose of Paradise may hold the key to everything. Howard Pyle, the legendary illustrator and storyteller who defined American adventure for generations, crafted this final novel with the same swashbuckling verve that made Treasure Island a classic. The result is a ripping yarn that captures the romance and brutality of the Indian Ocean's most dangerous waters, populated by pirates who were once men and captains who might become pirates themselves. It endures because Pyle understood that the best adventure stories are really about what decent people will do when civilization falls away at sea.