from
Lenore Hart and Dutton Books . . .
from
Lenore Hart and Dutton Books . . .On a fall day in 1800, at the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, a
young
runaway slave named Rafe stows away aboard the Tyger, a ship bound for
Boston.
A few nights later, as a violent nor'easter lashes
the coast of Virginia, fifteen-year-old Molly Savage wakes to a
commotion below her attic room at the Hogs Head Tavern. The tavern was
built by Molly's great-grandfather, who settled his family on tiny
Savage Island. But Ned, Molly's father, lost it in a card game to
Ben Pruitt, shortly after
Molly'smother died. Old Pruitt was good-natured, but his widow is cruel
to
Molly, who earns her bread in the Tavern as a maid-of-all-work.
A ship has run aground on The Bandy, the shoals off
the island. Molly slips down the stairs. She runs to the beach, where
the
islanders have built bonfires to warn the ship off. Too late; Molly
hears
it breaking up. Her father sends her back to the inn, where Mrs. Ben
puts
her to work serving hot toddies. 
Old-timers
spin tales about past
shipwrecks.
Molly overhears joking about Spanish gold. As she cleans up, she
dreams
of escape from the widow’s clutches.
At dawn, she’s out scavenging on the beach with the
other islanders. She leaves the others to search by herself, and
finds Rafe, the sole survivor of the shipwreck. Afraid she’ll turn him
in, Rafe claims to be a freeman, the cabin boy; that
he lost his papers
in
the wreck. Molly’s not sure she believes that, but she’s seen
runaways
captured and abused by slave catchers.
Besides, Rafe
is hurt, and Molly
has a soft heart. She decides to hide him until he can escape.
But that means she must lie to her father, and steal
food from Mrs. Ben. She struggles with family loyalty, conscience, the
law, and her desire to do what’s right. There are no other children her
age on the island, and gradually Molly and Rafe become friends. He
finally
tells her how he escaped from a plantation and stowed away aboard the
doomed
ship.
That same night Molly overhears Mrs. Ben planning to
cook her goat for a fancy dinner. And she learns, to her horror, that
it’s to be a wedding feast -- for Mrs. Ben and her father. Soon
she will have to call the widow, who berates and abuses her, “Mother.”
Before the wedding can take place, Tory raft pirates
-- Picaroons -- land on the island. Rafe spots them first and runs to
warn Molly at the Inn. He helps the islanders fight off the
pirates. Her
father is so grateful, he helps conceal Rafe’s true identity from Mrs.
Ben,
who would be happy to claim a reward for his return. Later, Molly
follows a shadowy figure down to the beach, thinking it’s her father.
She wants
to talk to him. But it’s Mrs. Ben, who seems to be signaling with a
light.
Or is she a wrecker, and the true cause of the Tyger’s awful demise?
Soon Molly learns there is a treasure on her island
. . . and a spy in their midst, and that there will be a new battle
with
the pirates, who’ve teamed up with British officers from a man o’
war. Can Molly and Rafe trap the Pirate King, save the islanders, and
make
sure Mrs. Ben gets her just desserts? And will Rafe escape North to
freedom
at last?
The Treasure of Savage Island was published by Dutton Books in
September 2005. Order now from your local independent bookseller!
