THE DETERMINED
A groundbreaking novel of historical fiction based on the real experiences of two of the Golden Age of Pirates’ most infamous women, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who dared to subvert the rules and gender roles of their time.
Coming February 2026, Kensington Books
Back Cover
1721, Spanish Town, Jamaica. Captured, convicted, and pregnant, twenty-three-year-old Anne Bonny faces the gallows. When writer Captain Charles Johnson enters the garrison, she strikes a deal: she’ll tell this opportunistic fool her story if he sends a doctor to her friend, Mary Read, who’s battling prison fever.
Prior to their arrest, life at sea had offered Anne and Mary freedom that few women knew. Anne, born into scandal in Ireland, seeks home and elusive safety in South Carolina. Discovering the opposite, she makes a bitter bargain for emergency passage to the Bahamas.
Across the Atlantic in England, Mary confronts her own limitations as an illegitimate daughter. She sneaks into a merchant crew, disguised as a cabin boy. But when war sends Mary into the cavalry, she meets a challenge even she might not rival.
When their paths collide in Nassau, a notorious “pirate den,” Anne and Mary find kinship aboard the Revenge—the fastest ship in the Caribbean. With the governor out for blood, every raid brings more risk. From the high seas to the depths of a Jamaican prison, Anne and Mary must navigate impossible choices, each determined to taste freedom again.
February 2026
ADVANCE PRAISE
“Immersive, thrilling, and steeped in emotional complexity, The Determined is a triumph of historical research and heart, transporting the reader into the lives of the infamous Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Rueckert paints a nuanced portrait of two complicated women in a world that opposes them at every opportunity. Both heartwarming and gut-wrenching in turns, this novel brings a fresh and original perspective on two of history’s most recognized female pirates.”
“Hang on to your tricorn hat! Rachel Rueckert’s homage to real-life pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read is an unforgettable adventure. From the dangerous high seas to the trenches of war, these women forge a remarkable friendship and wield their wits, wiles and weapons against countless enemies — as well as the social norms and mores of their era. A treasure of a book.”
“An exciting, immersive tale about two legendary women, their courage, and the circumstances that bound them together in infamy. It’s no easy task to fictionalize historical figures as widely mythologized as Read and Bonny, but Rueckert does it with aplomb.”
“This story is based on the real lives of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, two female pirates determined to choose their own adventure in a society that seems equally determined to reduce them to a single narrative. Though set in the eighteenth century, this novel feels eerily relevant to the situation we find ourselves in today; while the outfits and weapons may have changed over the last three hundred years, women’s autonomy still hangs in the balance. The Determined is a powerful example of two women who, armed with daggers, grit, ingenuity, and yes, tenderness, refuse to surrender their right to freedom.”