Nine-year-old James has always longed for swashbuckling sword fights and daring adventures. But those are hard to find in the seaside town of Grimsby, where James and his sisters are not even allowed to dip their toes in the ocean. That is, until their father, Dr Jones, receives a royal commission to travel to Barbados. But James, Elizabeth, and Emily get more adventure than they bargained for when their ship is attacked by the fearsome pirate crew of the Phantom Lady and their father is taken prisoner by the ruthless Captain Silverbeard. James, Elizabeth, and Emily find themselves stranded on the enchanted island of Tortuga, where pirateers--the children of pirates--live while their parents are off pillaging. The Joneses secretly plot to rescue their father, but first they must escape booby traps, riddles, and mountains of dirty pirate laundry to find a way off the island. After they barely survive a pirateer challenge, the three siblings band together with a motley crew of orphan pirates-in-training: Captain Bal, Dani, and Young Nick, plus a conceited monkey and an ancient parrot who thinks he's a dog. Together, the crew plans a dangerous rescue mission that takes them back to the Phantom Lady to rescue Dr Jones . . . or so the Joneses think. The pirateers have their own reasons for wanting to sneak aboard the Phantom Lady--and it just might have to do with finding the most legendary pirate treasure of all time. Join the Joneses and the pirateers on a daring journey that takes them from shark-infested waters to explosive battles on the high seas to the very brink of Davy Jones's Locker.

Author Biography

Suzanne Westgate is a mother and lawyer who never let go of her inner pirate. She grew up in a small harbourside town, where she and the local gang of kids would kayak to shelly islands after school. In her early twenties, Suzanne backpacked through South America and Asia, and her adventures-sailing, caving, mountaineering, surfing, diving in the Caribbean with a crew of prisoners on parole, abseiling, skiing down a live volcano (mostly on her bottom), blowing things up with dynamite, and very nearly getting kidnapped-helped inspire the Joneses and the Pirateers. Suzanne started writing after the birth of her second daughter, who never slept. The Joneses and the Pirateers began as a short pirate story for her girls, and after months of sleep-deprived madness followed by five years of editing, it turned into a grand-scale rollicking adventure packed with humour, riddles, booby traps, and dangerous challenges. Suzanne and her family live in Sydney, where they enjoy their own adventures, treasure hunts, dance-offs, and pirate-themed birthday parties.