On a Sunday morning in July 1625, Barbary pirates sail into a quiet Cornish bay and storm the church. Their loot: sixty men, women and children, kidnapped and bound for northern Morocco, where they are to be sold in the thronging slave market of the Souq el Ghezel. Amongst them is Catherine Anne Tregenna, a talented young embroiderer. But as her diary reveals, Cat is anything but the subservient and compliant slave that her captors were expecting - and as the coast of England fades from sight, adventure beckons in the East . . .
In an exclusive London restaurant, a gift is given that will change Julia Lovat's life. The antique book of Jacobean embroidery delights her, but when she settles down to read it more closely, she unexpectedly discovers within its foxed and faded pages the extraordinary diary of a young Cornish girl, calling to her from across the centuries . . . The stories of these two women are destined to converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner. With handsome pirates, beautiful slave girls, exotic mysteries and Moroccan markets, Crossed Bones is an enthralling adventure of the high seas, based on the real-life raids on the Cornish coast by 17th century Barbary corsairs.
