My favorite kind of historical fiction is one in which the story is based on real facts, and thus while enjoying a great story, I am also learning about history. Ariel Lawhon is perhaps the queen of historical fiction, so it seems quite fitting that her newest novel is titled, “The Pirate Queen.” It’s a complex novel about Ireland in the 16th Century, a country consisting of clans and chieftains, rivals and infighting, but above all, a refusal to surrender to England.

When the novel begins, Henry VIII is King of England, and we meet Grace O’Malley, also called by her Gaelic name, Gráinne Ní Mháille, as a five-year-old girl enthralled by the ocean. The ocean speaks to her, and she’s determined that she will be a captain and live on the water as much as she can. Her father, head of the clan O’Malley, is scandalized. He does everything in his power to stop her infatuation, her love of the water, but to no avail. Grace has a special connection with the sea and that bond will last her whole life.

Lawhon has done her research, and much of the vocabulary and the names she uses in the novel are the Irish names. For example, the ship that Grace loves almost as much as she loves her family is Niamh, pronounced Neev. At the start of the novel is a “Cast of Characters” and a “Guide to Pronunciation,” both of which come in extremely handy as we navigate this complicated story.

In the Author’s Note, Lawhon explains that “the structure of this novel is unique.” That is certainly a true statement. The chapters are titled with one of three headings: Maiden, Mother, Matriarch, along with the year and Grace’s age. And the chapters alternate beginning with Maiden, then Mother, then Matriarch repeating that pattern until the end. We see the Maiden Grace as a child and teenager, Grace the Mother after her marriage, and then the Matriarch Grace when she is older, but still vibrant and determined to help her people. It’s a bit confusing at first, and sometimes keeping the different events clear as to when they happened in Grace’s life is difficult, but it works.

To be honest, at first I wished that Lawhon had just written the novel chronologically, but upon reflection, having us learn about Grace at three different times in her life is brilliant. We see the naive young Grace, alongside the mother who is desperate to control as much of her life as she can, and the matriarch who has decades of wisdom and is fearless in her goals. It’s worth the occasional confusion to see this complete picture of Grace as we venture forth following her feats of derring-do.

At one point in the novel, Grace wonders what it would have been like to have been the kind of granny who stayed home and told stories to the grandchildren. But that’s not the kind of person Grace could ever be. In the Author’s Note, Lawhon is very honest about the dearth of information about Grace O’Malley, but that makes it even more impressive that out of bare skeletal facts, she has created a fully rounded character whom we admire and respect. Grace is brilliant, but she is also kind and loyal. Her accomplishments are all the more incredible when we take into account the time period in which she lived, a time when women were belongings. Thanks to Lawhon’s brilliant and imaginative writing, we are able to see the countryside as Grace does and smell the Irish spring (and fall and winter) as she does.

Lawhon does bring out the irony of Grace’s accomplishments being scandalous at the very time in England when they had a woman queen, Elizabeth I. It’s during an audience with the Queen of England (this actually occurred!) when Grace says that she is, by some, considered the Queen of Ireland. Gutsy indeed, considering that Elizabeth had just killed her cousin, the Queen of Scotland. Grace O’Malley is truly a unique historical figure, and Ariel Lawhon does her justice with this marvelous novel in which she brings Grace — and the struggles of Ireland to be free — to life.

I also must comment on the quality of the actual physical book. From the map on the endcovers to the clan family trees at the end, the quality of the paper and the heft of the whole book, it’s quite special and beautifully conceived.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.