THEY'RE COWS, WE'RE PIGS

A dark, thought-provoking adventure that ?artfully evokes the blood-soaked reality of 17th-century pirates? (Entertainment Weekly). This ?wryly humorous, satiric, and often macabre novel? (Library Journal) follows Jean Smeeks, a Flemish thirteen-year-old who signs up as an indentured servant with the French West Indies Company, but instead winds up a slave on the notorious island of Tortuga. Over time, he learns the arts of herbal medicine and surgery?a skill that allows him to join a band of Caribbean pirates. Contrasting Jean?s romantic pull toward the ?Brethren of the Coast??an all-male society pursuing socialist, anti-colonialist ideals?with the brutal reality of their lawless existence, They?re Cows, We?re Pigs is a ?unique and memorable? novel whose ?pirate world leaves you as a good book should: thinking? (The Boston Herald).