Margaret Cezair-Thompson

The Pirate's Daughter

“Cezair-Thompson unravels a surprising yarn that is rich, salty and ultimately satisfying…[Her] deft evocation of the beauty and unpredictability of Jamaica, its topography and its people, that raises The Pirate's Daughter to a level far above the bodice-ripping historic epic.”

–The Washington Post

"[Cezair-Thompson] succeeds magnificently in evoking a world distant in both time and place."

–Publishers Weekly

"The Pirate's Daughter snuck up on me like the tide coming in - set in beautifully-drawn 1940's Jamaica, this is a story of family life interrupted by the incoming celebrity of Errol Flynn and his large presence in a small community. Margaret Cezair-Thompson's skillful storytelling reveals a chess game that has Flynn slide around from active figure to towering backdrop, casting shadow and influence on her central mother/daughter pair, Ida and May. The Pirate's Daughter grows subtle layers of complexity and relationship, weaving history, racial divide and political change with the surprising interactions life presents, the struggle and growth through choices and sacrifices made, and most wonderful of all, the casual, internal musings of each of her characters that Cezair-Thompson seems to carelessly toss our way as she floats in and out, from one to another, that become the anchoring force of human interaction in a world of unanswered questions, lost maps and long-searched-for hidden treasures. A fantastic read with so much to offer..."

—Eileen Lynch, Dutton’s

True History of Paradise

The True History of Paradise

"[Her] extremely large ambition is signaled by the title: The True History of Paradise. A tall order for a debut novelist, but Cezair-Thompson writes with such talent, grace and confidence that, from the first pages forward, it's imaginable that she just might pull it off. "

-- The New York Times Book Review, Madison Smartt Bell

"A heartbreakingly rich, beautiful story whose characters hauntingly embody their country's travail, for which novelist-screenwriter Cezair-Thompson has devised the perfect structure. A very accomplished debut. "