In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick BCD 910.91 Phil

If you told me to read Moby Dick I would have to ask how much you were willing to pay me!  I can give you a one sentence synopsis of it and that's all I want to know.  I was a bit apprehensive when I had to read this for book club after I found out this was the basis of Moby Dick.  But that was fiction and this is the real story of the Essex whaling boat that was destroyed by a whale.  It was a great read.

I knew nothing about whaling.  These men left their homes for years at a time and traveled thousands of miles to do their job.  Meantime the wives were left behind but they got along just fine.  They looked after the children and ran the town!

This book introduces you to the crew of the Essex and we follow them as they take off for a whaling trip.  After the encounter with the whale, the crew is divided into three groups who climb into little boats. From there on it is a story of survival.  Obviously some of them do survive which is why we know what happened!

I listened to the audio-book and it was well done.  It would be a great book to listen to on your summer travels!

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