Electrifying . . . a tender portrait of two unconventional souls blithely defying the conventions of their era and making a break for freedom -- Fiona Sturges - Guardian

An extraordinary survival story… Elmhirst’s reconstruction of their ordeal is riveting, told in illuminating detail - Sunday Times

A compelling book about a shipwreck, but also as thoughtful a tale about marriage, for better and worse, as you are likely to read - Observer

An amazing tale of survival . . . reminds me how incredibly hard it is to find love out there in the world -- Tracey Thorn - New Statesman

A gripping tale of maritime catastrophe but also of marriage -- India Knight - Sunday Times

An epic story of adventure and survival - Daily Express

Superb… Elmhirst is good at evoking an era that feels both familiar and like deep history… you really do hang on to her every word -- Maggie Fergusson - Spectator

With its period detail and softly poetic prose, the book melds together the sweet conjugal bonds of a quirky pair with the adrenaline kick of Jaws… It is a remarkable portrait of a marriage kept afloat against the odds - Financial Times

A quirky, thrilling and moving tale of a love which proved stronger than starvation, dehydration and the mighty Pacific -- Peter Carty - i

Extraordinary . . . Elmhirst is a terrific writer -- ELIZABETH DAY

This dramatic, profound human story is so beautifully told in calm, thoughtful, perfectly judged prose. I really could not put it down -- NINA STIBBE, author of Love, Nina

A gripping story of survival at sea and a haunting account of the yearning to escape . . . It hasn’t left my mind since I finished it -- OLIVER BURKEMAN

A beautiful, brilliant book, an exquisitely written piece of non-fiction that reads like a great novel

An exciting, fast-paced, terrifying adventure story, and at the same time a slow, gentle commentary on love -- ALEXANDER MASTERS, author of Stuart: a Life Backwards

This is a survival story of relentless power, an epic of human resourcefulness, and of the emotional toll taken at last by suffering’s extremity -- COLIN THUBRON

A beautiful, searing book -- a miniature epic of seafaring and survival with an unbreakable, unusual love story at its heart -- SAM KNIGHT, author of The Premonitions Bureau

What an astonishing story. And what a sublime piece of writing -- JULIET NICOLSON, author of A House Full of Daughters

The extraordinary 1973 ordeal of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey comes to life in Sophie Elmhirst’s telling... it speeds along like a novel - Daily Telegraph

An unlikely love story wrapped in a dramatic adventure - Waitrose

What Elmhirst understands, and convincingly shows, is that Maurice loved Maralyn, and Maralyn loved Maurice – nothing else seems to have really mattered to them - Irish Times

Sophie Elmhirst is a prizewinning writer for the Guardian Long Read and The Economist's 1843 magazine, and a contributing editor at the Gentlewoman and Harper's Bazaar. In 2020 she won the British Press Award for Feature Writer of the Year; she has also won a Foreign Press Award and been longlisted for the Orwell Prize. She first came across the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey researching a piece on our desire to escape. This is her first book. She lives in London.