Welcome to Everything Essay! where every two to three weeks I feature an essay and talk about the art and craft of the writing. Then, on the in-between weeks, I write about the books I’m reading and what I learn about writing from those. And sometimes the conversation veers into aging too. It’s a book week.
I read this book in an afternoon; it’s a page turner.
A Brief Synopsis
A Marriage at Sea is a work of reported narrative nonfiction written by the journalist Sophie Elmhurst and based on the true story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey. In 1972, the couple set sail from England’s south coast with an ambitious plan to sail around the world to New Zealand with stops in the Caribbean and the Galapagos. Maurice was a technically proficient sailor, socially awkward, stubborn and controlling. Maralyn couldn’t swim but embraced the adventure. Eight years younger than her husband, she was good at problem solving, optimistic and good natured. A yin and yang partnership. About eight months into their voyage their boat was hit by a sperm whale and sank. They spend the next four months adrift in a dinghy on the verge of starvation before being rescued by a South Korean fishing vessel. Their failed attempt and remarkable survival story made headlines around the world, and Maurice wrote a bestselling memoir about their experience.
What I Loved About the Writing
The Unexpected—I love when a writer breaks convention and it works! The book is written in five numbered parts. The first three chapters, 3/4 of the book, tell the story of the adventure and rescue. It reads like fiction, a propulsive thriller, I couldn’t put it down.
Then chapter four starts in scene with a new sailing voyage; it’s just three pages long. (asynchronous, unexpected) Elmhurst examines what their first difficult voyage represented, what their marriage was about, and why their pairing worked. Short, exquisitely written, with significant insight, Elmhurst taps into the pulse of the deeper story she wants to tell. The book pivots here.
I’d love to quote the entire chapter, but I don’t want to spoil your read. I’ll share a snippet: Somewhere, deep within, unspoken, we must know, we do know, that we’ll all have our time adrift. For what else is the marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive. Elmhurst expands the survival story to explore coupledom, co-dependency, and commitment.
What We Can Learn from the Writing
Both of the Baileys were deceased by the time Elmhurst researched and wrote their story. Elmhurst combed what she called the “shards”—Maralyn’s detailed diaries, Maurice’s sailing notes and ship logs, their letters, and the media coverage. She also interviewed everyone she could find: family, friends, neighbors, people in the town where they settled. From this archive, Elmhurst cinematically recreates their story. Like I said it’s a page turner—an exceptional example of how to tell someone else’s story as if you were there.
A Marriage at Sea would have been an incredible read if it had ended with the Baileys rescue and the frenzied aftermath of celebrity they experienced. But Elmhurst’s reflections, her deep dive into the psychology of a relationship, how they overcome the insurmountable, adds a new layer of meaning to this survival story—one she has to uncover. This is the content and context a memoirist needs to bring to their story—what does my experience mean.
You can also glean insight directly from the author in this interview on YouTube and this article from NiemanStoryboard.
I hope you enjoy the read.
Two More Things
I recently wrote a craft class on details for Chill Subs’ Forever Workshop. They release weekly classes on Substack on a wide range of writing topics across genres as part of their subscription. You can find my detail class: The Cure for Flat Prose: How to Find Details Readers Remember HERE.
Join me and a roomful of writers at the next Submit It Now! session on August 5, 2026, from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm EST. Always free. Register for here the Zoom link. I’ll spend some time reviewing some nuts and bolts of submitting: cover letters, contracts, rights, reprints and more. As always, you will have time to work on submissions.
I'm intrigued about the structure here and why it works. Guess I'll have to read the book! I'm working on a collection of personal essays/memoir and not sure how they fit together. Or if they do! I have also found that some of the essays seem to grow as I research and use that research/facts to better inform the personal story (my background is journalism and magazine feature writing). I'd love a brief discussion on structure on upcoming Submit Now workshops! thank you, Andrea -- I appreciate your sharing!
Hi Andrea. I write memoir with only one intent — to learn from it. That intent is there from the very first idea, not something I go looking for after the story's already told. Success, failure, disappointment, joy, and stories are all there. But the learning isn't a chapter four reframe for me. It's the reason I started writing in the first place. Enjoy your day!