Uitstekend derde deel in de serie over Minou Joubert, met een mogelijkheid voor een vierde deel. Deze roman vertelt het verhaal van Louise Reydon-Joubert, de kleindochter van Minou en haar grootvader Piet Reydon. Louise is een vrouw met een sterke liefde voor de zee, maar in die tijd (1621) zijn vrouwen geen kapitein op hun eigen schip. Als Louise kennismaakt met de jongere Gilles Barenton is zij erg van hem gecharmeerd. Hij is een betrouwbare secretaris en weet heel veel dingen discreet te regelen, maar Gilles heeft een geheim. Als er later een moord wordt gepleegd, moet Louise we uit Amsterdam.

Haar tante Cornelia van Raay heeft een aantal schepen bezit en van haar krijgt Louise het schip De Oude Maen. Daarmee gaan ze richting La Rochelle. Uiteindelijk zorgt een ontmoeting met een schip vol doden die ronddobbert op hun vaarroute dat Louise besluit om de piraterij te bestrijden. Spannend en uiteraard goed geschreven. ( )

The usual quality writing and research I have come to expect from this Author, with superb characterisation throughout. Atmospheric with a real feel for time and place. Engaging from first to last page, however whilst I enjoyed the book it did not totally grip me like the previous books in this trilogy, they were almost impossible to put down.
Enjoyable. ( )

I didn’t realize this was the third book in a series until I started reading the book. In spite of that, it read very well as a stand alone.

Set along the Barbary coast in the 1600’s, a woman named Louise becomes captain of the ship she owns and sets out to thwart the pirates who a dealing in the slave trade. Louise is very unconventional and it makes life more difficult for her during those times.

Eventually she is caught and tried for murder, but instead of hanging, she is ordered into exile. Louise sets off once again and readers are left with questions about what became of her and those aboard her ship.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am pleased to give my honest review. ( )

This book is so incredibly lovely that I don't know where to start. The Ghost Ship has adventure, buccaneering, illicit love and lots of secrets. It most of all is a story of a defiant woman making her mark in a man's world. Our heroine Louise has always wanted to be the captain of a ship. When she turns twenty-five she receives an inheritance from her father and quickly buys a ship called Old Moon. Ten years later, she hosts a farewell dinner party for the Old Moon's retiring captain and meets Gilles, a wine merchant's apprentice. Louise and Gilles become fast friends and later begin a relationship. However, Gilles has a secret of his own. He is a she.

While Louise hires another man to be her captain, she decides that she is going to travel with her ship to the Canary Islands. Fate steps in and Louise becomes the captain. It is her commandeering of this ship that leads Louise to inquisitors in the Canaries, a Spanish and hence Catholic, island nation. With her family being well known Huguenots she is already a suspicious person to the inquisitors. However, some one on the ship has talked with them about her.

Louise’s quest to break society's rules had me scared for her throughout the novel. She was a tough lady but without her inheritance she would have probably married and bore children. Money gave her options. It was lovely to reconnect with her grandparents who we met in book two. Grandmother Minou is one of my favorite characters in the series and she has some of her own secrets that get exposed. We also find out what happened with her parents.

Alot happened in this intricate plot. Author Mosse obviously did plenty of research into the Huguenots. She brought their travails to life. I also liked that she wrote a Preface before the story began telling the reader what was fact and fiction. It was nice that I didn't need to question facts as I read the book.

The Ghost Ship is a must read. ( )

Louise Reydon-Joubert has come into her inheritance and is a wealthy woman. Now all she wants to do is to go to sea. Whilst in La Rochelle she meets Gilles Barenton and is immediately attracted to this young man, however Gilles hides a secret. Louise sails in her ship, The Old Moon, to Las Palmas but along the way the captain meets an unfortunate end, this is the opportunity Louise has craved.
I have stuck with this book series from Mosse and I'm glad I have done as this is easily the best of them so far. Mosse is clear that she has been influenced by the tales of the pirates Bonny and Read and this is evident in the tale of Gilles but it just adds colour to the narrative. What I do love is the way this novel is set in the time where the Dutch Netherlands were becoming independent from Spain and the VOC were becoming successful, however it also tackles the thornier subject of slavery and the often overlooked enslavement of Europeans by the Barbary corsairs. I lot of background and an exciting tale. ( )