In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death.
"Irresistibly sunny Set in the brightly lit Mediterranean amid old olive trees and sexual intrigue, music and wine and beautiful women... Propulsive." -The New York Times Book Review
"The perfect book for pretending it's already beach season." -O, The Oprah Magazine
A romantic page-turner propelled by the sixty-year secret that has shaped two families, four lovers, and one seaside resort community.
Set against dramatic Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, The Rocks opens with a confrontation and a secret: What was the mysterious, catastrophic event that drove two honeymooners apart so suddenly and absolutely in 1948 that they never spoke again despite living on the same island for sixty more years? And how did their history shape the Romeo and Juliet-like romance of their (unrelated) children decades later? Centered around a popular seaside resort club and its community, The Rocks is a double love story that begins with a mystery, then moves backward in time, era by era, to unravel what really happened decades earlier.
Peter Nichols writes with a pervading, soulful wisdom and self-knowing humor, and captures perfectly this world of glamorous, complicated, misbehaving types with all their sophisticated flaws and genuine longing. The result is a bittersweet, intelligent, and romantic novel about how powerful the perceived truth can be-as a bond, and as a barrier-even if it"s not really the whole story; and how one misunderstanding can echo irreparably through decades.
From the Hardcover edition.
A maritime adventure set against a lush historical backdrop, this is the story of one fateful whaling season that illuminates the unprecedented rise and devastating fall of America's first oil industry.
Peter Nichols' novel, which has been likened to the works of Jack London and Joseph Conrad, immediately rose to top places on best-seller lists across the country. Voyage to the North Star offers an amazing combination of high-seas adventure and human folly. It is also filled with authentic detail, since Nichols is an experienced sailor who has made a solo journey across the Atlantic. Carl Schenck is fabulously wealthy, but he aspires to be a great hunter. Africa is too tame, so in 1932 he buys the Lodestar and equips the yacht in luxury.
Outfitted with rubberized boots and an arsenal of guns, Schenck sets out for Arctic waters to shoot bears, seals, and "every animal in sight." As days unfold on the frozen horizon, peril after peril confronts the boat and its crew. Although Schenck is unstoppable, others on the Lodestar are forever changed by this ill-fated voyage. Narrator George Guidall's performance conveys all the dangerous magic of the icy seas and captures the increasing madness of Schenck's expedition.
