The Pirate — Joan Fallon

Early one morning, the ambitious pirate, al-Awar, makes a lightning raid on the shipyard in Málaga and kidnaps Bakr, a master shipbuilder. Before anyone realises, he and two of his workmen have disappeared. No-one has any idea why the pirates have taken them or where they have gone, but only one of two fates await them: death or slavery. When Aisha, Bakr's wife receives the news, she is heartbroken but refuses to believe that she will never see her husband alive again. Instead she is determined to find out where the pirates have taken them. With the entire Mediterranean to hide in, it won't be easy, but she refuses to give up and motivates her family and friends to search for them. At the heart of this novel is the tender love story of Aisha and Bakr's deep feelings for each other. It is the thought of her that gives him hope during the long days of his captivity, and it is her love for him that gives her the strength to never stop searching for him. This exciting, action-packed historical novel takes the reader into the medieval world of the merchants and seafarers who sail along the western coast of the Mediterranean, and the pirates who terrorise them. Set in 11th century Málaga, 'The Pirate' by Joan Fallon, is the second book in The City of Dreams trilogy.