A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival
by Leslie Johansen Nack
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Release date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: She Writes Press
Genre: Memoir, Coming of Age, YA
Paperback: 300 pages
Rating: 4.5
First sentence(s):
In March of 1973, we picked up our new custom-built sailboat in Newport Beach and sailed south on our first-ever family voyage.
Leslie’s memoir starts in a broken home in the 1970s and moves into a coming-of-age adventure when, at the age of 14, she and her two sisters have to batten down the hatches on their 45-foot sailboat to navigate the Pacific Ocean, as well as the stormy temper of their larger-than-life Norwegian father.
It is the story of how a young girl comes into her own power and strength against all odds in a dysfunctional family having the adventure of a lifetime. Young Leslie embraces the sailing experience and turns it into a growth and maturation process, finding both beauty and spiritual solace in the natural world.
After her mother and father divorce at age seven, and full custody is given to her father, Leslie quickly learns the hard lessons of being Dad’s favorite. The abuse begins at age nine and doesn’t end until she begins to fight back at fourteen.
At twelve, the family moved from their 63-acre rustic ranch in Northern California to a 45-foot sailboat in Southern California where they spent two-and-a-half years living aboard their boat preparing for the trip of their father’s dream.
On February 5, 1975, they left everybody they knew, including their mother and began the journey, landing first in French Polynesia. Fourteen is the first of two books in a story of courage and hope, and of one girl’s fight against an overbearing, abusive and sometimes irrational father who demanded the best, while sometimes doing less than the best himself. You will be inspired by Leslie’s courage and fight and be amazed at all she encounters and overcomes.
My two-bits:
Coming of age story with the sea as a backdrop. Although the tale is not necessarily a pretty one in regards to family/father relations, it provides the general feeling of what it is like to be out on a sea adventure.
I liked learning about navigating a boat and what is involved in a long sea journey.
The photos included throughout the book was a nice touch and drew me into the story even more.
About the author:
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* review copy and giveaway courtesy of book tour sponsored by BookSparks. @booksparks
* SIGNUP to win this review copy (here).
