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Frank Stockton's satirical pirate tale journeys around the Caribbean locales of Barbados, Jamaica and Belize. It begins with Kate Bonnet's father as a gentleman planter. But Major Bonnet decides to become a Pirate. The well-known pirate Blackbeard is also a significant figure in Stockton's novel. The title character, Kate Bonnet, is the daughter of Major Stede Bonnet, an educated soldier-turned-planter, who also becomes a pirate.
Kate Bonnet is a very beautiful young woman who attracts many suitors. She is inclined to only a few, and is greatly distressed about her father’s new line of work, being a Pirate of the Caribbean. She goes to live with her uncle and takes her young friend Dickory and his mother along, and all of them go after Stede Bonnet and try to straighten out his ways. Dickory, is a very bright and worthwhile young man who is a few months younger than Kate, but he overcomes many obstacles and hurdles to win her heart. Along the way, the family also, has to endure capture by Pirates of the Caribbean, and one is very nice and helps them to return to their home.
The book gives you good ideas into the culture of that time around the Caribbean, as the Colonies of America were being settled, and the many trials of that process, especially in and around the East coast and the Caribbean Islands. The story mostly takes place in Barbados, Jamaica and Belize, where many Pirate ships docked. Blackbeard plays a major role as he interacts with Kate Bonnet, her father, Stede Bonnet, who had only recently decided to become a Pirate of the Caribbean, and ply his new trade up and down the East coast and around the Caribbean islands. His new line of work creates unending frustration for his beautiful daughter, Kate Bonnet. Dickory, her dear friend is always there to help her in her times of discouragement and need. It is a very romantic fictional history story.
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