The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Man Against the Sea - Softcover

Sebastian Junger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007235569 ISBN 13: 9780007235568

Publisher: HARPERPERENNIAL, 2006

Synopsis

The worst storm in history seem from the wheelhouse of a doomed fishing trawler; a mesmerisingly vivid account of a natural hell from a perspective that offers no escape.

The ‘perfect storm’ is a once-in-a-hundred-years combination: a high pressure system from the Great Lakes, running into storm winds over an Atlantic island – Sable Island – and colliding with a weather system from the Caribbean: Hurricane Grace. This is the story of that storm, told through the accounts of individual fishing boats caught up in the maelstrom, their families waiting anxiously for news of their return, the rescue services scrambled to save them. It is the story of the old battle between the fisherman and the sea, between man and Nature, but here Nature is an awesome and capricious power that transforms the surface of the Atlantic into an impossible tumult of water walls and gaping voids, with the capacity to break an oil tanker in two, let alone the 72ft swordfishing boat Andrea Gail with her crew of eight. A typical Hurricane encompasses a million cubic miles of atmosphere and can contain enough energy to, in theory, meet the electric power needs of the UK for a decade. Except that a hurricane will not be controlled.

In spare, lyrical prose ‘The Perfect Storm’ describes what happened when the Andrea Gail looked into the wrathful face of the perfect storm.

About this title

Review:

The Perfect Storm is the tale of a doomed ship caught in the middle of what some meteorologists have called the storm of the century. At its heart is a gripping narrative about struggling for survival in a tempest of ferocious winds and 100-foot waves. But rookie author Sebastian Junger does more than simply spin a good yarn. His account of how fishermen ply their trade and lead their lives in the 1990s is fascinating. The same goes for his descriptions of storm formation, wave physics and the terror of drowning. Anybody who enjoys Jon Krakauer's work or "Drama in Real Life" from Reader's Digest will appreciate The Perfect Storm.

Review:

‘(It) will become a classic for a jaded modern world’ The Independent

‘Writes like a poet who has been to meteorology school’ Ruth Rendell

‘Terrifying, sad, exhilarating, humbling and unforgettable’ Daily Mail

‘A magnificent sea-yarn ... it deserves to storm these shores’ Observer

About this edition

• Publisher: HARPERPERENNIAL
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0007235569
• ISBN 13: 9780007235568
• Binding: Paperback