Description

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. **