Joy Cowley & Miho Satake
The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate

This enduring tale of independence and family is an unconventional love story with a strong female lead and a pirate with a sensitive side, written by New Zealand’s leading children’s writer and illustrated by one of Japan’s foremost children’s illustrators.
The fierce little woman lived in a house at the end of a jetty. She knitted socks in blue and green wool to sell to sailors who had got their feet wet. But when there were no ships at her jetty, she was quite alone.
One stormy day, a pirate came to the house on the jetty. He stood on his toes, and starting tap-tap-tapping on the window…
After a battle of words through the jetty trapdoor, these two windswept heroes find they are suited after all in a warm story of a carefree family.
Gecko Press
Picture Book
Original title: The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate
Age 8+
32 pp
hc | 140 x 190 mm
Publication: July 2025
Author: Joy Cowley
Illustrator Miho Satake
All rights available
- Look inside
- Book trailer
- A non-stereotypical love story with a strong female main character
- Newly illustrated edition of a much-loved picture book classic
Awards
- Awards

“A wonderfully warm story in which both the pirate and the fierce little woman retain their individuality while enhancing everything about their lives – including a real makeover for what was, at the beginning of the story, a very humble little house. A book to treaure for the story, for the ‘message’ it gives.” – Around the Bookshops, Nov 2010
“Delightfully entertaining.” – Tomorrow’s Schools Today
By the same author