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The Wake of the Lorelei Lee Book Review

The Wake of the Lorelei Lee: Being an Account of the Adventures of Jacky Faber on Her Way to Botany Bay by L.A. Meyer

Jacky Faber, with her new found, although illegally obtained riches, collected from her dives of a Spanish ship, Jacky purchases the Lorelei Lee with plans to meet up with her love Jaimy Fletcher and carry passengers across the Atlantic. However, due to a change in the Admiralty, Jacky's charges, of which there are many, have not been absolved and when she docks in London she is immediately arrested. Tried before a court, Jacky is condemned to a lifetime in the penal colony in New South Wales, Australia, along with over 250 other women to help populate the new continent.

Once again Jacky is up to her blue tattoo in trouble. To be honest, she sort of had this one coming. If you have been reading these books or even just the reviews, you should know by now that Jacky is definitely guilty of most of the crimes she is charged with. Always one to take every situation in stride though, Jacky is quick to perk up and try for the best.

As usual, L.A. Meyer deftly inserts history into his pages, using the names of real female inmates who are now considered the founding mothers of Australia. There are some wonderful descriptions of India as seen through the eyes of the time period. Ching Shih, a Chinese female pirate who boasted of over 1,000 ships in her fleet is also featured. I found this character very refreshing actually as it does point at that although there were some women who really did live lives very similar to Jacky with some of the same tenacity and talents.

Jacky has really grown up over the past few books and I thoroughly enjoy following her along on her adventures, mostly because she thoroughly enjoys them herself. Jacky has some rather *ahem* interesting exchanges with a few people and at this point I do not think she should continue calling herself a maid, in the virgin sense of the word. Oh, and she should just give up being with Jaimy. Father Neptune clearly has other plans for her. I am hoping that the L.A. Meyer does branch out of the formulaic way in which he has been telling these stories and if he does, I can see myself reading many more of them.

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