Long forgotten in England, Providence Island is a microcosm of the 400-year-old Atlantic story, a narrative of colonial struggle and empire, slavery and drugs, pirates and puritans and amazing reversals of fortunes. At once intimate and global, this book casts new light on the part England played in the making of the modern world.

The creation myth of the US begins with the puritans of the Mayflower who went on to build the most powerful nation on earth. This is the story of the passengers aboard its sister ship, the Seaflower, who in 1630 founded a rival colony on an isolated Caribbean island called Providence. Their crops failed, slaves revolted, and as crisis loomed the settlers turned to piracy. After the colony was wiped out by the Spanish Providence was forgotten in England, but the drama was re-played by those who settled the island 100 years later, now providing a fascinating microcosm of the Atlantic story.