How did a big-game fishing trip rudely interrupted by sharks inspire one of the key scenes in Hemingway”s
The Old Man and the Sea? How did Robert Louis Stevenson”s cruise to the cannibal-infested South Sea islands prove instrumental in his writing of
The Beach of Falesa and
The Ebb Tide? How did Masefield survive Cape Horn and a near-nervous breakdown to write
Sea Fever?
The waters of this world have swirled through storytelling ever since the Celts spun the tale of
Beowulf and Homer narrated
The Odyssey. This enthralling book takes us on a tour of the most dangerous, exciting and often eccentric escapades of literature”s sailing stars, and how these true stories inspired and informed their best-loved works. Arthur Ransome, Erskine Childers, Jack London and many others are featured as we find out how extraordinary fact fed into unforgettable fiction.