Patience and the Pyrate

The first book in the Greatest Cape series, The Black Joke, was described as a cross between Treasure Island, The Railway Children and Deliverance, by turns exciting, amusing, charming, alarming, winsome, violent and strange - a rollicking read for adults with a childish love of adventure, and for children who aren't afraid of a few long words. Now the fifth and final volume of The Greatest Cape, Patience and the Pyrate, sees us back in the odd little town by the sea. The very decided Patience Potts and her friend Silmonella pursue pirates and fairies and get themselves into a very nasty situation, while Patience's mother Rosella has problems of her own. At the school, one tiny teacher is touched by her pupils' attentions, and another has a crisis of conscience. And on the railway, sinister events are in train (pun intended). ... there's a mysterious ship in the harbour. Oh no, not another one? ... what does Slingsby Sourdew get up to in the lavs at playtime? ... a schoolboy plans the Great Train Robbery for his classroom project ... ... two little girls find themselves in very deep water. With some sheep. ... and a couple of miles out of town, something very strange waits and watches ...