The Fortunate Islands: A Novel of 14th Century Canary Islands by Michael Ponzio; Strong Female Driven Nautical Adventure

 The Fortunate Islands: A Novel of 14th Century Canary Islands by Michael Ponzio; Strong Female Driven Nautical Adventure 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

I received this book through Betafide. 

Spoilers: This is the year for The Seas whether traveling by them or running businesses connected to them. This year the blog featured Thorn of Plimouth by Catherine Hughes, Empire's Cost Forged in Paper (The 500 Year Journey Book 2) by William H Brothers, The Maritime Master in an Age of Peril by Michael Thomas Price, and Choppiness at High Seas by Arvid Wadhera. Now we can add The Fortunate Islands: A Novel of 14th Century Canary Islands by Michael Ponzio. 

The Fortunate Islands is a stirring character driven Adventure Historical Fiction novel about a seagoing family based on Ponzio’s family ancestry. It has a strong cast but it's the female characters that grab the most attention from a strong willed sea captain, her spirited daughter, and in a supporting role, a vengeance driven female pirate who was among the first in fact. 

In the 14th century, Ponzio Bastone, a Genoese sailor and his captain wife, Esmeray, settled down from a lifetime of sailing, spying, trading, and fighting in wars. They chose Lanzarote, the northeastern most of the Canary Islands, to live. They raise their adventurous daughter Aspasia in their own unconventional manner to respect the seas, work hard on a ship to hopefully commandeer one, and to fight for her own independence and place in a world that silences women. Those lessons are put to the test when Aspasia is separated from her parents, raped, abducted, and sold by pirates. 

This is the type of Historical Fiction novel that calls to mind Nautical Adventure classics like The Odyssey, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, Count of Monte Cristo, Moby Dick, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island, Lord Jim, the Horatio Hornblower novels, Master and Commander, On Stranger Tides, Life of Pi, and The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. It has that sense of adventure, thrilling battles, forming alliances with the indigenous people, and exploring that blue constantly changing plane that covers 75% of the planet.

The readers are guaranteed to get and receive nautical details about working and living at sea, how to sail such crafts, receive up close and personal encounters with marine life including sea mammals, fish, the lush luxurious islands, and the diverse indigenous people who live in them, fights against military sailors and sea going pirates, shipwrecks, marooning, forces of nature, and the strength that it takes to survive the circumstances. The book also gives us rich, developed characters that experience them.

Bastone is a consummate sailor who loves the oceans and his family. He treats them with respect and understanding. He is a very enlightened progressive figure for his time and considers Esmeray just as dedicated a sailor as he is and acknowledges her captaincy outranks his status. Esmeray shows excellent sailing skills, and carries a lot of strength and courage when dealing with pirates, and vulnerability when interacting with her daughter.

 Bastone and Esmeray realize that they gave their daughter the tools for survival and know that she has their inherited strength and courage but they also want to protect her from forces that could take advantage of her. After all, Esmeray also knows what it’s like to be the only female sailor or ship passenger among a group of men and that such situations could turn extremely catastrophic.

When that particular situation occurs, Aspasia is traumatized and left deeply troubled by the experience but is also willing to escape and fight against her assailants. The memories of the rape and abduction are imprinted within her but she uses them to fuel her rage, determination, and means for survival. She has an independent adventurous spirit that provides her with a solid foundation with her parents and gives her agency while she is without them. Like her parents, Aspasia is a skilled sailor, fighter, and survivor. 

There is another interesting female character who appears halfway through the book and, like the pirate that she is, practically steals every page that she is featured in. She is Jeanne de Clisson AKA “The Lioness of Britttany,” one of the earliest known female pirates. Yes before Ching Shih, Mary Reed, Anne Bonney, and Grace O’Malley there was Jeanne de Clisson. (She is however preceded by Queen Artemisia I of Caria and Queen Teuta of Ardiael.) 

After her third husband, Olivier was arrested and executed for treason, Jeanne, a Breton noblewoman, gathered loyal supporters dubbed the Black Fleet and a flagship called My Revenge, to commandeer French ships and fight against their naval fleets. Her privateering days lasted 13 years and ended after she entered another marriage and received lands and a title as compensation. She died a wealthy woman in 1359.

Here Jeanne is Aspasia and Esmeray’s Shadow Self. Unlike the mother and daughter who retain their humanity and vulnerability despite seizing authority, Jeanne de Clisson is a figure of rage and retribution using her authority as a means to act on her rage and anger. Aspasia alternates being in awe of Jeanne but also appalled by her. However she sees a woman who survives in a man’s world by being just as cunning, just as ruthless, and just as fierce and angry as them. 

Jeanne contrasts with Aspasia’s equally strong willed but more structured mother who also challenged the norms, fought for position, and took command but did not lose herself to the rage and vengeance that consumed Jeanne. She still had a loving family and was able to retain her femininity and connections with others. Jeanne forgoes those and only lives for killing the French. Esmeray represents the type of woman Aspasia could be but Jeanne represents the type of woman that Aspasia is afraid of turning into. 

The Fortunate Islands is a brilliant adventure novel but with plenty of action, twists, and excitement but it is also brilliant in capturing the people, especially the women, who lived in that nautical world.