Long John Silver, the enigmatic, treacherous and yet strangely attractive pirate whose exploits have been recounted by Robert Louis Stevenson in 'Treasure Island' lived out his twilight years on Madagascar, rich, one-legged and attended by a handful of devoted slaves whose freedom he had purchased in the West Indies after inciting them to rebellion. That he had a price on his head and the Navy out looking to bring him to justice bothered him less than the threat of posthumous obscurity. So he set down his memoirs.
Bjorn Larsson has produced a witty shrewd and well meditated account of a pirate's life that, and this seamless translation by Tom Geddes, will earn its place on the bookshelf of very prospective corsair. It is undoubtedly something of a literary achievement to write a novel about one of the most famous characters in world literature without imitating the original, yet managing to give it an original and personal touch.
