- Who is it for?
- Ages 10–14
- How long is it?
- 35 min
- What does it include?
- Synced read-along and a quiz
- What does it cost?
- Premium access in Emma's Library
About this audiobook
During the failed Monmouth Rebellion, the Irish physician Peter Blood treats a wounded man and is convicted of treason by Judge Jeffreys despite taking no part in the rising. Sentenced to transportation, he is sold into forced labor in Barbados and purchased by Arabella Bishop, niece of the brutal plantation owner Colonel Bishop. When Spanish raiders attack Bridgetown, Blood and other prisoners seize the attackers' ship and escape. Elected captain, Blood builds a formidable pirate company with a code against needless cruelty, though the retelling never treats piracy or colonial violence as harmless romance. He repeatedly outmaneuvers French, Spanish, and English rivals, clashes with the cruel buccaneer Levasseur, and rescues captives including Arabella. Believing Blood no better than the villains around him, Arabella wounds him with her judgment; he must decide whether honor is performance or practice. News of the Glorious Revolution changes the government that condemned him. After Blood defends Jamaica from a French assault, he is appointed governor, spares his old enemy Colonel Bishop, and earns the chance to build a life with Arabella rather than merely win her.
Why it's worth a listen
Peter Blood wants only to practice medicine, but treating a wounded rebel sends him through a rigged trial, forced labor in Barbados, and finally onto the deck of a captured Spanish ship. He becomes a pirate because the law has abandoned justice, then tries to hold his crew to rules the empire itself ignores. It is a clever, sweeping sea adventure that asks whether a person forced outside the law can still be governed by conscience.
What listeners will learn
Subjects: literature, storytelling, historical imagination.
- character
- setting
- conflict
- choice
- consequence
- theme
- retelling
- captain
- blood
- classic
Questions for after listening
- Retell the central conflict in order.
- Name one important choice and what happened because of it.
- How did the setting or tradition shape the story?
A question to keep
Can a person forced outside the law remain governed by conscience?
Chapters
- The Surgeon and the Rebels
- The Red Dust of Barbados
- The Capture of the Cinco Llagas
- The King of the Buccaneers
- The Judgment of Arabella
- A Question to Keep
Editorial review
Quality reviewed · 98/100 on . Certificate EL-8C60-D538 is bound to the exact narrated script.
The review checks factual care, audience fit, teaching quality, structure, tone and source honesty. Read the editorial standards.
Published 2026-07-13 · Updated
