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    The Pirate Queen: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Pirate Queen: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Pirate Queen: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Pirate Queen: A Novel

    Written by Patricia Hickman

    Narrated by Flora Plumb

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Treasure is found in the most unlikely places.

    The envy of all her friends, wife and mother Saphora Warren is the model of southern gentility and accomplishment. She lives in a beautiful Lake Norman home, and has raised three capable adult children. Her husband is a successful plastic surgeon--and a philanderer. It is for that reason that, after hosting a garden party for Southern Living magazine, Saphora packs her bags to escape the trappings of the picturesque-but-vacant life.

    Saphora's departure is interrupted by her husband Bender's early arrival home, and his words that change her life forever: I'm dying.

    Against her desires, Saphora agrees to take care of Bender as he fights his illness. They relocate, at his insistance, to their coastal home in Oriental-the same house she had chosen for her private getaway. When her idyllic retreat is overrun by her grown children, grandchildren, townspeople, relatives, and a precocious neighbor child, Saphora's escape to paradise is anything but the life she had imagined. As she gropes for evidence of God's presence amid the turmoil, can she discover that the richest treasures come in surprising packages?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 10, 2010
    ISBN9780307748553
    Unavailable
    The Pirate Queen: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Pirate Queen

    4/5

    21 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Saphora Warren is a wife, mother and grandmother. She is an asset to her physician husband and has been a devoted wife for the years they've been married. But Saphora has had enough. At the end of a Southern Living lawn party (a party her husband wanted even though he didn't show up for it), she is planning on leaving her beautiful house and philandering husband to regroup and decide what she wants from life. At least that was the plan until her husband arrives home before she can leave and announces he has cancer and is dying. Saphora must now decide whether she stays to help her husband or goes off on her on in The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman.To say that Saphora is downtrodden is being kind. She seems to do whatever her husband Bender wants and puts up with years of neglect and verbal abuse in the form of snide and belittling remarks. The worst part is that her husband doesn't even seem to know that he's being neglectful or abusive. At least he didn't until he received his death sentence. Saphora is left to try and pick up the pieces of their life while dealing with a remorseful and introspective Bender. It's rather strange that she could take the years of possible philandering but has problems dealing with her husband as he becomes aware of his faults. In addition to dealing with a husband dying of brain cancer, she must contend with her grandson for most of the summer. Her eldest son has to work, as does his ex-wife and the baby-sitter quit so Eddie goes to the beach house with his grandparents. While at the beach, Eddie, Saphora and Bender befriend a young boy with AIDS. Tobias was born with AIDS and adopted but is dearly loved by his adoptive mother. Regrettably, although this appears to be taking place in the present, there's a lot of prejudice and misconception about AIDS and Tobias is persona non grata at most facilities and functions around town.Saphora, her children and grandchildren, are all forced to watch Bender as he slowly fades away from their lives. Fortunately Saphora has become a woman with a backbone and isn't willing to take crap from anyone any longer. There's plenty of high drama and grief in The Pirate Queen. Most of the drama is centered on AIDS and the reaction Tobias receives from a variety of people, including Saphora's son and daughter-in-law, as well as Bender's penchant toward selfishness. One example of such selfishness is his desire to have their housekeeper drop everything and come to the beach even though her young son has the measles and obviously needs and wants his mother. I wanted to like The Pirate Queen. Saphora ends up being a likeable and admirable character, but she starts off somewhat spacey and comes across as just flaky and a pushover. The friendship between Eddie and Tobias, as well as Tobias and Bender is heart-warming. Eddie accepts Tobias for what he is, another kid and a playmate. Bender and Tobias accept one another for what they are, two people battling potentially deadly illnesses. It was rather uplifting to see that Bender sought atonement for his actions and spiritual guidance toward the end of his life. I don't know if that can make up for years of neglect, but Saphora seems willing to overlook it. In addition, Saphora's children are all adults but come across as spoiled and selfish children at times. There are redeeming qualities about this book, especially in Tobias's story. Although this does have an uplifting ending, beware there are plenty of tear-jerker scenes toward the end. As I stated previously, I wanted to like The Pirate Queen but for me it was nothing more than an okay read, in part because of the spacey qualities of Saphora's character for the first half of the book and also because the dialogue was a little hard to follow at times. The Pirate Queen isn't a bad read, but it simply didn't do it for me.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful.Powerful.Emotional. Those are some of the words I can use to describe this novel. It is both heart wrenching and heart warming, as you walk beside Saphora Warren, a woman who by all appearances has the perfect life, and see the work of God in her life. She was my absolute favorite character. The more I read, the more I became Saphora. I saw some of her struggles as my own. Walk beside her through this story and feeling like I became her, really awakened me and made me take a look around me. It helped see some things and I am so grateful for what I have. This wonderfully amazing story about a woman who nearly leaves her philandering plastic surgeon husband, only to hear news that will forever change her life is THE best Christian Fiction book I've read so far. I've read hundreds of books this year, and as the holidays are approaching and this year comes to an end, I can't think of a better book to help end this year and start a new one, than this outstanding, powerful one. I definitely recommend this book with the highest of 5 stars. Patricia Hickman instantly captures her readers' souls and, through a winding roller coaster of emotions, takes them on a life changing, God filled, incredibly unforgettable journey. Please, don't hesitate. Get a copy TODAY and see the skilled work of a wonderful author.
    • 3/5
      A poorly written soap opera with improbable circumstances.
    • 4/5
      The Pirate Queen was Page Turners’ (my church book club) July selection. This contemporary women’s fiction novel by Patricia Hickman was given a unanimous thumbs up by our members. We loved the complex characters and issues that made up The Pirate Queen. A southern novel, this one will touch your heart and make you think.Saphora Warren has a perspective on her life not really shared by those around her. Her picture perfect life, including her picture perfect home and husband, hides heartache, longing and regrets. Her attempt to escape is interrupted when her husband announces he has cancer. The oasis of emotional healing she had envisioned for her time spent at their beach house, is shattered with the inundation of family and their assorted baggage. But what Saphora thought she wanted is replaced with what she needed.The Pirate Queen offers a lot to discuss — marriage, motherhood, family, illness, relationships. The characters are by turns earnest, exasperating and very real. Saphora’s transformation is the focus of the book, but other characters also stretch and grow. Secondary plots touched us as much as Saphora’s story. The setting of the novel is North Carolina, including a small coastal town. The soothing backdrop of the river and slower pace of the town is a good contrast to the chaos of Saphora’s life. There is heartbreak and heartache, but the novel ends with hope and a promise of the future.If you are looking for women’s fiction that challenges you and will keep you thinking after the last page is read, then check out The Pirate Queen.Recommended.Great for Book Groups.Audience: Adults(I actually won this book in a contest. Thanks to Waterbrook for the copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
    • 4/5
      Beautifully moving, at times heart breaking, feel the joy and pain as Saphora comes to terms with her failing marriage. Languish in her desperation to reclaim dissipated love even if for a last time, as her husband stands at deaths door. The envy of all her friends, wife and mother Saphora Warren is the model of southern gentility and accomplishment. She lives in a beautiful Lake Norman home, and has raised three capable adult children. Her husband is a successful plastic surgeon--and a philanderer. It is for that reason that, after hosting a garden party for Southern Living magazine, Saphora packs her bags to escape the trappings of the picturesque-but-vacant life. Saphora’s departure is interrupted by her husband Bender’s early arrival home, and his words that change her life forever: I’m dying. Against her desires, Saphora agrees to take care of Bender as he fights his illness. They relocate, at his insistence, to their coastal home in Oriental—the same house she had chosen for her private getaway. When her idyllic retreat is overrun by her grown children, grandchildren, townspeople, relatives, and a precocious neighbor child, Saphora’s escape to paradise is anything but the life she had imagined. As she gropes for evidence of God's presence amid the turmoil, can she discover that the richest treasures come in surprising packages? From the start I was captivated with this book and what would happen next. Saphora at first seemed like a spoiled woman who did not appreciate what she had. Maybe she was ill, was it paranoia schizophrenia she seemed to think every woman she knew had slept with her husband. Why was she not even speaking to her husband about how she felt? Was he that wrapped up in his life that he did not notice how distant she had become. He is a surgeon and that meant long hours away from each other. Why was she so bitter?It was easy to place myself in her shoes as a woman and feel her life play before me. The characters were intermingled and presented comfortably throughout the story and I did not feel overwhelmed by them. Although I did not relate to a few scenes like when Saphora left her husband at the hospital overnight alone and that night out. These were the parts that did bring me back to reality quickly and I found her character rather cold at those times. Not sure if this was good or bad, since I could see how she needed her rest and her husband was not responsive. Just something I would not do. Other than these tidbits I enjoyed the book very much. A good read that opens up a door into another life. At times I felt angry, joy and disgust all at once and at the end a craving for another chapter.
    • 5/5
      Saphora has a successful life; but she’s had enough of her husband’s running around on her and decides to leave. She’s stopped by her husband’s announcement that he has cancer and now that he is sick he wants her to take care of him. He wants to go to their home on the beach at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Saphora is a beautiful woman even though she is a mother of grown children and a grandmother, she finds herself overrun with children and grandchildren while she is trying to take care of her doctor husband.I really enjoyed this book because it takes place in the state next to me as I live in South Carolina. I also enjoyed reading a love story about an older woman who is at a crossroads in her life. I am older than Saphora is in this book but I feel as though we could be friends as we have a lot in common, except the doctor husband mine was a welder before he retired, and we don't own a second home on the beach, just one little one midstate where it gets so hot and humid in the summer. It seems as most books are written about a young slim beautiful woman and the authors seen to forget that we older women need love and romance also.Saphora is a woman that likes to know what is going on and does not mind sticking her nose in her neighbor's business. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review