Matthew Pearl's The Last Bookaneer is a grand adventure befitting Robert Louis Stevenson, a character in the novel. Populated with pirates, dwarfs, cannibals and even a tribal princess, this intricate story of literary swashbucklers ushers readers through the exotic landscapes of the South Seas on a treasure hunt for the written word.
Loopholes in early copyright laws enabled intellectual property to be stolen and sold in foreign countries to the highest publishing bidders. During that time, such a thief was known as a bookaneer--"a person capable of doing all that must be done in the universe of books that publishers, authors and readers can have no part in." The novel's narrator, Fergins, sails for Samoa at bookaneer Pen Davenport's side, to steal a dying Robert Louis Stevenson's final work for U.S. publication. Fergins and Davenport are racing the clock to secure the prized text before an international copyright treaty takes effect. But they aren't alone. Davenport's bitter enemy, Belial, also has his sights on Stevenson's manuscript.
Davenport and Belial battle to be the shrewdest operative, the one who secures the coveted manuscript. Each, waiting on the idiosyncratic Scottish novelist to declare his work finished, is unable to reveal the other's intentions without exposing himself. As readers anxiously wait to see whom the best man turns out to be, murder, mayhem and mystery ensue.
While Pearl revives some characters from his earlier novel, The Last Dickens, new readers needn't worry; no background is necessary to thoroughly enjoy this magnificently crafted escapade through the dangerous jungles of 19th-century publishing. The Last Bookaneer is a clever gem the bookaneers would undoubtedly steal. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts