The Story of Jack Ballister's Fortunes: Being the Narrative of the Adventures of a Young Gentleman of Good Family, Who Was Kidnapped in the Year 1719 and Carried to the Plantations of the Continent of Virginia, Where He Fell in with That Famous Pirate Captain Edward Teach, or Blackbeard; Of His Escape from the Pirates and the Rescue of a Young Lady from Out Their Hands

Betrayed by his miserly uncle and kidnapped from the streets of London, young Jack Ballister finds himself sold into indentured servitude on a Virginia tobacco plantation in 1719. But his troubles are just beginning. When the notorious pirate Blackbeard and his crew descend on the colony, Jack is thrust into a world of violence, intrigue, and impossible odds. To win his freedom, he'll need to outwit pirates, navigate the treacherous waters of colonial America, and rescue a young lady from the grasp of history's most fearsome sea captain. Pyle, himself a legendary illustrator, renders the eighteenth-century Atlantic world in vivid detail, from the squalid holds of slave ships to the blood-soaked decks of pirate vessels. This is adventure fiction at its pulp-era finest: propulsive, morally clear-eyed, and utterly without condescension toward its young protagonist. For readers who devoured Treasure Island and crave more pirates, more peril, and more historical texture.