The Sea Witch

by David Bennett Laing (Editor), Alexander Laing

Overview

A seafaring novel that would delight nautical readers!
(The Columbia Review of Books and Film)

"The Sea Witch" provides a wonderful...opportunity to sail back in time to an era when...crossing the sea was a true adventure, and when men risked their lives for glory, wealth, and love.

Originally written by Alexander Laing..., the novel has been revised and edited by his son, author David Bennett Laing, presenting a wonderfully improved text that [is] more palatable to the modern reader, yet diminishes nothing from the charm of the original.
"The Sea Witch" offers historic fiction at its best. Rooted in true facts surrounding one of the fastest sailing ships in history..., the novel is populated by fictional characters, who are truly genuine to their time and place. The ship itself, a swift and beautiful American clipper [plying] the China tea trade and the California gold rush, is the pivot around which the lives of three brothers revolve as shipmaster (and his wife), first mate, and carpenter. Adventure, romance, and...greed, send them literally across the oceans. While the impetus might have been trade and profit, "The Sea Witch" whips up magic far beyond ports of call and cargo manifests. Bitter business rivalries and fiery romantic conflicts mix with the awesome forces of the sea (and human folly) to provide plenty of action and suspense, while the authenticity of foreign locales and the customs of [the] mid-nineteen century make for a lifelike reading experience that rivals time travel.

"The Sea Witch," at its essence, is a classic seafaring tale, enriched to a great extent by carefully researched details of the era's shipbuilding, finance, international trade, and the men and women of the time, driven by bold courage that's hard to imagine in today's world. This novel would surely delight readers who enjoy great nautical books, from the true accounts of Captain Joshua Slocum and Bernard Moitessier to the fictional adventures of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. Highly recommended!
(The Columbia Review of Books and Film)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940151302357
Publisher:	David Bennett Laing
Publication date:	05/27/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	477 KB

About the Author

Alexander Laing was a novelist, poet, and naval historian, who wrote many fiction and non-fiction books about American ships and seafarers and their colorful history. "The Sea Witch" was his first nautical historical novel, published in 1933. A more mature fictional work, "Jonathan Eagle," followed in 1955. Laing also wrote several mystery books, including "The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck," and a number of popular works on American clipper ships. He was a professor of Belles Lettres at his alma mater, Dartmouth College, where he "coached" English (as he put it) from 1938 to his retirement and thereafter until his death in a bicycle accident in 1976. He was an avid sailor and an active populist, championing progressive causes. He was married to the poet Dilys Bennett Laing, with whom he had one son, David.

Editorial Reviews

This is an epic tale set in the mid-19th century during a glorious decade at the height of the prowess of American clippers, setting and breaking truly global speed records in the transoceanic China tea trade. Whilst written in the modern age, the style, prose and dialogue hark back to an era of gallantry and sensibilities balanced precariously with the contradictions of a life harsher, both ashore and at sea, than any of us can now imagine.

amazon.com - Stevie Boy