Marianne’s Pick of the Week: A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

“Somewhere, deep within, unspoken, we must know, we do know, that we’re all have our time adrift. For what else is a marriage, really, if not stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive.            Pg. 202  A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

I have a confession to make. I force myself to read nonfiction.  Reading to me is for pleasure and escape. I do not want to be bombarded with facts or “real-world” situations.

Those feelings made me hesitant to pick up Sophie Elmhirst’s A Marriage at Sea, but I was hooked from page one. This is the tale of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, two Brits who loved sailing and dreamed of a life at sea.

Maurice is an awkward, sad, fussy person who meets, falls in love, and marries Maralyn. She is, in every way, Maurice’s opposite. She’s charming, charismatic, and hopeful. What the two have in common is the fear of living a conventional life and a longing for adventure. The couple decide to make the dream of living on a boat a reality. They spend four years building a boat with the end goal of sailing from England to New Zealand. On a cold, rainy (typical British weather) day they set sail.

For one year the sailing is good; brisk winds, sunshine and happiness. Trouble starts after our duo sail through the Panama Canal and enter the Pacific. One morning as Maralyn is passing watch to Maurice a jolt shocks the boat. Both run up to the deck and witness a sperm whale (think Moby Dick type creature) in its death throws. It hit their ship and had put a hole in the keel. Maurice and Maralyn have no choice but to abandon ship.

Readers are treated to a survival story. Sourcing rainwater, food, cleaning and entertaining themselves all the while lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Maralyn does the heavy work of keeping the two’s spirits from falling too low and Maurice navigates by the stars. Multiple would-be rescue ships miss them; sharks play tag with the raft and raging storms assail our couple. Finally, after 117 days, a Korean fishing ship rescues Maurice and Maralyn.

The recovery from their ordeal takes up the last fourth of the book. The physical and emotional toll were tremendous and the impact on their marriage was substantial. Both come to terms with their ordeal, and believe it or not Maralyn and Maurice build another boat and go on more sailing adventures. Readers of Life of Pi or fans of the movie Adrift should check out this story.