Two in a Boat: The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage

When she was in her forties, recovering from depression and alcoholism, Gwyneth Lewis, the National Poet of Wales, decided to trade in her landlubber existence—a house in Cardiff and a responsible job at the BBC—for life at sea with her husband, Leighton, a former bosun with the Merchant Navy. After buying a small yacht (called Jameeleh) and teaching themselves to sail it (a process not without its fair share of disasters), they set out to cross the Atlantic. But Gwyneth's seasickness and Leighton's astonishing transformation into Captain Bligh were just the beginning in a series of outrageous catastrophes, both maritime and marital.

A truly unique memoir, both witty and wise, Two in a Boat is Gwyneth Lewis's strange, stirring, and often hilarious account of their voyage—at once a wholly original, relentlessly entertaining beginner's guide to the art of sailing and an unforgettable portrait of a marriage under pressure.

Publishers Weekly

In a charming memoir with as much turmoil as a rough sea, Lewis recounts her attempt to morph from a "messy depressive, often overwhelmed by my own emotions" to someone "unbowed by internal or external storms." After emerging from a year of clinical depression, Lewis, a Welsh poet, visited a tarot card reader, who told her she wasn't living life "to the full," and advised her, "you should buy a boat." In less than a month, Lewis, in her 40s, and her husband, 23 years her senior and formerly in the merchant navy, bought a boat and prepared to leave their home and jobs in Cardiff (a port on the Bristol Channel) to embark on a lengthy voyage. Excited by the idea of a change in scenery, the two set off for Brazil. The trip, naturally, wasn't easy: debilitating seasickness, engine problems, unscrupulous mechanics, a resurgence of Lewis's depression, not-so-scenic ports of call and extreme weather conditions were all exacerbated by their deteriorating relationship. Lewis leans on allegory, which can wear thin, but her poetic talent shines through with lines like "Cold air French kisses the warm, which loses its identity for it." Photos., illus. (Apr. 1) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.