Cup of Gold

John Steinbeck

A historical and romantic novel — almost a fantasy — loosely based on the life of the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan, who in the seventeenth century went from being a young Welsh farmhand to becoming the most feared buccaneer in the Caribbean and eventually the governor of Jamaica. The story begins in Wales, where Henry Morgan is a dreamy teenager who listens to the stories of an old wizard named Merlin — yes, that Merlin, in an aged and weary version — who speaks to him of the world and of glory. Morgan sets off for the New World with an ambition he does not fully understand himself: he wants something great, something that does not yet have a name.