Book Review of
A Marriage at Sea
Lynn's Review
A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst is an adventure biography published in 2024. This book was all over social media in the last year.
A Marriage at Sea is the story of a British couple who followed their dream and sold everything to set sail across the ocean. However, their voyage did not go as planned. After a whale hit their boat, they fought to survive on a rubber raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Maurice was a loner. Maralyn was ambitious and was a leader. This oddly matched couple did not want to waste their lives living boring, average lives in England. So they quit their jobs, sold their house and all their possessions, and set sail.
Their voyage and survival meant teamwork and planning. They each had their jobs. Their survival depended on each other.
Marriage at Sea by Sophie Emlhirst is an adventure book about surviving against all odds. But it is also about marriage and personalities. It is about learning your strengths and weaknesses. And it is about hope when there is little to have hope about.
It is also about a quirky couple who followed their dream and became celebrities despite failing to achieve it.
This book has been all over bookstagram since it was published in 2024. I have seen so many people share their love of this book. I don’t read many overhyped books, but I am always looking for new nonfiction books to read. I also love adventure books, so I decided to give this one a try.
I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I think the reason that I didn’t love it is that I have read a lot of adventure and shipwreck-type books. Compared to other books I have read, like Endurance, Empire of Ice and Stone, In the Heart of the Sea, and others, Marriage at Sea was light on the adventure.
After reading so many others talk about loving this shipwreck-adventure book, I was expecting more details about the voyage and the shipwreck. I was expecting more excitement that kept me wanting to read more.
Overall, the book is good. People who have not read many shipwreck-adventure books will enjoy this one. However, if you are like me and have read a lot of adventure-at-sea-type books, this one may not be what you are expecting.