
The Pirate Queen
A Novel From the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Frozen River
Diversified Publishing · Print & ebook · September 29, 2026
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River and I Was Anastasia, a thrilling historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O'Malley, an infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime Grace O'Malley was born to be at sea.
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- Who it’s for
- For readers drawn to historical adventures about Irish sea captains
- Themes
- Irish resistance to English incursions, A woman's life beyond noble expectations, Family endangered by political conflict
- Genres
- Renaissance Fiction, Sea Stories, Women's Fiction
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River and I Was Anastasia, a thrilling historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O'Malley, an infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime Grace O'Malley was born to be at sea.
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Raised alongside her brother by their father, chief of the name of clan O'Malley, Grace learns early that her dreams of the open water are not compatible with the life she's expected to lead as the daughter of a noble family. And when her father marries her to the wrong man, a neighboring chief named Donhal, Grace's world shifts for the worse. Undaunted, Grace raises a family without abandoning her passion, aiding her hot-tempered husband in his campaigns against rival tribes. Eventually ousted from her husband's land in the wake of his death, Grace returns to her childhood home and begins her career as a pirate in earnest, claiming new territories and finding deeper love, only to see her livelihood threatened by English incursions into Ireland, and her family endangered in an attempt to check her power. Tenderly observed and fiercely written, Ariel Lawhon's gripping latest channels the natural beauty of sixteenth-century Ireland alongside the brutality of the period as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine and defender of her people, who truly earned the title "the Pirate Queen of Ireland."
Who it’s for
- For readers drawn to historical adventures about Irish sea captains
- For readers interested in a heroine defending her people against English power
Where it sits
| Sea Stories | 80% |
|---|---|
| Renaissance Fiction | 66% |
| Women's Fiction | 50% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Historical Fiction
- Renaissance Fiction
- Historical Thrillers
- Authors
- Ariel Lawhon
- Publisher
- Diversified Publishing
- Published
- September 29, 2026
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Irish resistance to English incursions · A woman's life beyond noble expectations · Family endangered by political conflict
- Reading lane
- Historical Fiction