Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady.

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Kellgren continues her tour de force portrayal of Mary “Jacky” Faber in this stand-alone sequel to Bloody Jack, a 2008 Odyssey Award Honor title. After it is discovered that Jacky has been disguising herself as a boy, she is forced to leave her shipmates and true love behind to enter the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston, plunging her into melodramatic escapades. Mean girls and a malevolent headmistress block her path to becoming a proper lady, while stereotypical characters provide colorful Dickensian subplots involving murder and madness. Kellgren voices Jacky’s Cockney patois with such historical accuracy that listeners are pulled into the early nineteenth century, breathlessly entranced by Jacky’s heart-on-her-sleeve, knife-in-her-bosom exploits. Shifting from Bostonian blue-blooded to boozing Irish accents with ease, Kellgren differentiates each character’s dialect with a skill that reaches the crest of emotion yet never spills into over-the-top exaggeration. Kellgren lyrically provides Jacky’s talent for melody as she effortlessly sings the sea shanties and Irish tunes that heighten the drama and anchor the account in the nautical realm. This masterful production extends the appeal to a wide range of listeners eager for a bloody-good tale. Fans will be happy to know that the next title in the series, Under the Jolly Roger, also read by Kellgren, has recently been released by Listen and Live.