Books to give for Christmas, part 2
I meant to do this over the weekend but ran out of time, in part because I was DEVOURING a book called Maurice and Maralyn, by Sophie Elmhirst, which comes out in February. It’s the true story of a suburban couple from Derby who in the grim 1970s become dissatisfied with their predictable, respectable, boring life. So they sell their bungalow and buy a boat (he knows how to sail and she quickly learns).
They decide to sail to New Zealand and are halfway there when the boat is hit by a whale. It sinks, along with all their dreams and everything they own. So then they’re shipwrecked, bobbing about the Pacific on a tiny life raft attached to a dinghy for a very, very long time, dying a bit more every day, trying not to go mad. Aside from the fact that the story is jaw-dropping and edge-of-your-seat gripping, it is a book about love, ‘for what else is a marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive?’. Such a great book, and so well-written. I can’t stop thinking about it. (I’m also going through all the couples I know and speculating about what would happen to them in a shipwreck situation).
Right, more books: