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The Wreckers
A Story Of Killing Seas, False Lights, And Plundered Shipwrecks
by Bella Bathurst
Bathurst's second book (after "The Lighthouse Stevensons") traces 300 years of British history by focusing on the shipwrecks that plague its dangerous shores.
Houghton Mifflin, 288 pages
07/14/2005
$25.00
ISBN: 0618416773
Nonfiction
History
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
The Guardian Kathryn Hughes
[The Wreckers] is... a fluid, fluent read, a kind of shimmering net of possibility rather than a definitive documentary account which, when you consider the hazy nature of its subject, seems exactly right.
The Spectator Andro Linklater
Through the small keyhole of shipwreck, this book offers a deep vision of humanity that is the more uplifting for its lack of sentimentality. I cannot recommend it too highly.
The Independent Bill Saunders
Bathurst is evidently a persuasive interviewer, and has opened a magic casement on to a lost world on the edge of living memory.
Daily Telegraph Kate Colquhoun
Some of her most intense passages about the movement of water are breathtakingly novelistic and poetically precise.
Daily Telegraph Piers Brendon
Often, too, those who lifted goods from dead ships also manned the lifeboats that rescued their crews. This is one of many paradoxes that Bathurst explores in a book that, though flawed, is perfect for the beach.
The Economist
Grimly fascinating.
Boston Globe Matthew Price
Bathurst is a footloose researcher and interviewer.... Though she meanders and too frequently digresses, she writes with a playful wit and is obviously captivated by the history of wrecks and wrecking.
Chicago Tribune Stephanie Zacharek
Bathurst... has a strong feel not just for the people who
make their lives on or near the sea, but for the sea itself.
[31 July 2005]
Publishers Weekly
An air of sweet melancholy hangs over Bathurst's poignant account of ships, men and the circumstances that tear them apart.
Washington Post Daniel I. Davidson
It's a smooth, enjoyable read, as long as we're willing to take entertaining stories at face value without meticulous concern for whether they may be a bit too good to be true.
The New York Times Book Review Sara Wheeler
Many of the quotations are far too long and undigested. It's a pity, as Bathurst is a good writer. I hope she finds a more substantial subject next time.
 The average user rating for this book is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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