- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Profile Books; 2nd Revised edition edition (23 May 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1861974418
- ISBN-13: 978-1861974419
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 820,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
When his marriage ended, Peter Nichols had to sell the only thing he and his wife owned - their boat. With only his sextant, his instincts as a seasoned sailor and his memories of a floundering marriage, he sets out from England to sail to America to sell his beloved boat, Toad. Halfway across the Atlantic, Toad springs a leak. As the sea floods in faster, Nichols tries everything to stay afloat, desperately pumping the water out by hand. He loses the battle after 3 days and is forced to sink Toad.This is more than a sea-tale. It is the painful story of his marriage, his boat and himself.
The Sunday Times, 1999
Worthy of a place amongst the best survival stories..
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Peter Nichols is a superb writer. The first emotion I experienced when reading this book was 'I'm going to enjoy this'. His prose is so crisp and flowing that you're just carried along with the story like a piece of flotsam on the ocean.
And what a story. At times heartrendingly open and honest about the break-up of his relationship, he mixes this seamlessly with his feelings about sailing and his trusty boat, Toad. He's sailing her to America to sell her, as the boat is the only thing of value that he and his ex-wife owned together.
The best recommendation I can give about this book is that I was reading it at the airport before a particularly nerve-wracking trip, and it inspired me enough to forget my worries and get on with the trip!
It's the kind of book that you buy just because. Just because it LOOKS interesting, even though you haven't read the blurb. The difference with this one is that it stays with you long after you finish it. I loved it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first heard about this book from a short article in one of the broadsheet newspapers. It had just come out and I stopped off at my favorite (yes, I'm American!) London bookshop on my way somewhere or the other. I was disappointed that they hadn't yet received their copies! Flash-forward, a year later. I see the book in the shop, now in paper back. I snap up a copy. I read it, avidly from cover to cover. Now I want to be a sailor. What did I think? For one thing, it is very well-written and full of sailing fact and folklore--it would be a heck of a read if that was all it was. But it was much more than that: the real story is woven into the subtitle: "Alone across the Atlanic in a wooden boat". It is the story of a journey, of love and of a life. A life very much in progress--a man "under construction". This is an uplifting and courageous book about life and all that matters. I thought it was a fabulous book, thoughtful and sensitive without being TOO sentimental. I want a sequel--I want to know how he got on. I want to see him on another boat of his own, equally wonderful and idiocyncratic. I want him to be the captain of his boat and of his life, with another woman whom he loves as much as he loved J.--A woman could do worse!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I stumbled across this in a book shop and vaguely remembered it had very positive reviews. As a journalist, I'd just written a piece about sea survival, which required reading five classic non-fiction accounts. I enjoyed all of them and was left wanting more. This very personal tale would not have fitted into my story on subject matter alone but I truly came to relish the times when I could sit down and read it. A low key, honest account of an apparently doomed relationship, set against a number of sea voyages, might not sound compelling. Yet I found myself strongly rooting for the author and his partner (who is 'off-screen' throughout). Nichols writes marvellously about the sea and his small yacht, especially when he goes single-handed. I came to envy the experiences he's had - although he makes no attempt to romanticise them. There's none of the overheated language I've come to expect from authors who actually don't know the sea - such as Junger (The Perfect Storm). It manages to be intimate and real without betraying respect or confidences. His honesty is rewarding for the reader. I guess it's book about dreams not working out quite as one hopes. Nichols' bears his disapointments engagingly. I came to care about all the people and places he writes about. I still conjure up visions of him sitting alone in the cockpit at night, the self-steering mechanism guiding him across a big, empty ocean.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not what I initially awaited, but hard to put down anyway!
Although I had certain expectations for a book with such a title, and these were not quite fulfilled, I found it very hard to stop reading! Read more
Published 17 months ago by K Kröger
A diary that he could have kept for himself.
If you are interested in sailing and life at sea, don't buy this book.
If you are interested in persons problems with himself, buy this book. Read more
If you are interested in persons problems with himself, buy this book. Read more
Published 18 months ago by docM
A sad tale with a hint of hope
It's rare that I read a book more than once, but this is one of them.
Peter Nichols has captured his own tale of real human endeavour very well in this accessible and... Read more
Peter Nichols has captured his own tale of real human endeavour very well in this accessible and... Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2010 by S. Mohammed
A moving narrative, not just of sailing, but life itself.
Much more than a narrative of his single-handed attempt to cross the Atlantic, Peter Nichols keeps you engrossed with a fascinating picture of his life and travels. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2001
A notable addition to the body of sailing literature.
This book works well on a number of different levels. As a straightforward seafaring yarn it is excellent. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2000
Lovely, introspective, and melancholy in a studied way
This book is about one man's thoughts in the aftermath of a failed marriage. It is also about sailing alone, wherein the solitude becomes a kind of cleansing isolation. Read more
Published on 9 May 1999
A good yarn.
This book takes you through the author's life while referring back to one incredible single-handed voyage across the Atlantic. Read more
Published on 5 May 1999
NOT an adventure! Rather, a sad personal account.
Undermining my original excitement to read this book, I found that "Sea Change" offered little in the class of Caldwell's "Desperate Voyage", Junger's... Read more
Published on 2 Sep 1998
Easy-to-read honest slice of life
Reading this book, I could easily envisage the events that were described. This is no account of survival at sea, far from the land. Read more
Published on 10 Aug 1998
I spent my time well--wished I could have prolonged the trip
A student of film who once dreamed of the ocean, I only occasionally find the solution to cut the invisible tether to the tele. Read more
Published on 25 July 1997
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
