Book Review: Pirates of Savannah by Tarrin P. Lupo

As we were approaching a vacation in Hilton Head, where we were also going to visit Savannah for the first time, I took a look for an appropriate book to read during the trip. Tarrin P. Lupo's book stood out to me - after all, how fun to learn more about Savannah while reading a pirate novel! With the book now read and the trip now over, I can say the results were...mixed.

Pirates of Savannah is a novel (or actually a collection of three novels) that take place in the early to mid eighteenth century. Most of the story takes place in Savannah, although there are also important stops in Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Cape Fear, Charleston, and Key West. Some of my favorite places in the country!

The main character of the novel is Patrick, a resident of a debtor's prison in London who gets sent to Savannah as an indentured servant and falls in with Scotsmen, pirates, and anti-British colonials. Throughout the book, Patrick learns more and more about how the lowcountry was set up. Literally. Like, every major character is a fountain of exposition. "Well, to explain that, let's go back in time to the founding of...." While enlightening, it also gets annoying after a while.

But not as annoying as the heavy-handed political throughline. As I first started reading the novel, I figured the author was a strict right-winger who would have been at home in the January 6th attacks - the heroes of this book don't fight against the British as much as they fight against the concepts of government and authority. They don't want anyone to be ruled by anyone. After reading the rest of the book, I'm more convinced that the author is a Libertarian, as he seems to offer support for atheism, prostitution, and three-way lesbian relationships - not exactly a conservative paradise. (By the way, there is apparently a young adult version of this book available as well. Which seems weird since prostitution plays a major role in the story, and one of the major characters is a madam.) (Another note: When the main characters finally get to make their own rules, they set up a common pot of money reserved for anyone who is seriously injured in the line of pirate duty. So...this was all about communism?). Anyway, as this book turned more and more into a political diatribe, I lost faith in any of the "facts" I learned along the way.

But the saving grace: We then took our day trip to Savannah, and much of what was in the book turned out to be true! Some of the nuggets that ended up checking out include:

- James Oglethorpe founded Georgia as a free colony, with slavery outlawed (which unfortunately only lasted for about 20 years)

- Lawyers were also outlawed in Georgia

- Savannah had a public garden where it was hoped that crops from all around the world would grow; however, it mostly failed, and quickly fell into disrepair

- There was an inn mentioned in the book near the public garden called the Three Lanterns Inn that was a frequent stop for pirates. When we visited the Pirate House on our trip, I asked the waitress if the place had ever been called the Three Lanterns Inn, but she said she'd never heard that. I now know that they were indeed separate places...because at the end of the book, all the main characters have a reunion at the Pirate House!

So the book did end up offering some good vacation fodder after all, even though it was a bit of a slog to get through. Six out of ten hot dogs.