A middle-class American family with two young children decides to give up their routine and live on a sailboat for a year. What could go wrong? Part wanderlust, part marriage therapy and part family drama (with a dash of murder mystery thrown in), this book is perfect for anyone who needs to be transported this year.

This was a difficult book to get into for me. Chapters were alternating between a captain's ship log and his bosons or wifes perspective.  The first few chapters are a foreboding of what the reader discovers to be an unhappy ending. Halfway through a pattern develops and the story becomes easier to read. Definitely an example of strong character development,  but not an uplifting tale.

This is a sea voyage to remember: the transformative journey which both pits family members against one another...and pulls them inexorably toward one another. Gorgeously written, deeply atmospheric, and richly challenging, SEA WIFE rewards the reader on every level.

When it is snowy and cold outside (and my car is buried under 2ft of ❄️ ), superspeed readers like me can read 250+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today. LOL

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

From the highly acclaimed author of Schroder, a smart, sophisticated literary page-turner about a young family who escapes suburbia for a year-long sailing trip that upends all of their lives

Juliet is failing to juggle motherhood and her anaemic dissertation when her husband, Michael, informs her that he wants to leave his job and buy a sailboat. The couple are novice sailors, but Michael persuades Juliet to say yes. With their two kids--Sybil, age seven, and George, age two, Juliet and Michael set off for Panama, where their forty-four-foot sailboat awaits them--a boat that Michael has christened the Juliet.

The initial result is transformative: their marriage is given a gust of energy, and even the children are affected by the beauty and wonderful vertigo of travel. The sea challenges them all--and most of all, Juliet, who suffers from postpartum depression.

Sea Wife is told in gripping dual perspectives: Juliet's first-person narration, after the journey, as she struggles to come to terms with the dire, life-changing events that unfolded at sea; and Michael's captain's log--that provides a riveting, slow-motion account of those same inexorable events.

Exuberant, harrowing, witty, and exquisitely written, Sea Wife is impossible to put down. A wholly original take on one of our oldest stories--survival at sea--it also asks a pertinent question for our polarized political moment: How does a crew with deep philosophical differences and outmoded gender roles bring a ship safely to shore?

This novel could have been a great summery-beach read as a book that is about a family escaping reality for a year of travel. Instead, it is a very "deep" literary lecture about gender, bleak times and depression. I had hope that there would SOME "joy" in this novel but it was so deep and depressing that I chose to not finish it beyond skipping through chapters to the bitter end  I know that the description said that the book was literary and deep but it was soul-sucking to me: it may be your cup of tea, but to me, it was just too lecture-ish.

This book was fantastic! I loved the premise right from the start and found the characters and setting really drew me in.  A very quick read.  I will be recommending this one for sure! Thank you for the advanced copy.

This book shines on every level: sentence after sentence is beautiful and precise. The characters are complicated and sympathetic, the ideas are sweeping and profound, but are never too overt. It’s a rare novel that is as accomplished in its meaning as it is in its storytelling while also succeeding wildly on the language level as well! A novel to lose yourself in and then reflect upon again and again.

Inspired by a true story, a family ditches suburban life for a year-long sailing trip. Juliet is a poet, Michael is a life insurance agent. They have two kids, Sybil age 7 and Georgie age 2. The story is told mainly through Juliet’s point of view and Michael’s as Juliet reads his Captain’s logbook from the boat trip. She takes the reader on the journey that changed her family’s life forever. 

The writing was well done and the character development although scattered, was definitely there. The main characters, Juliet and Michael weren’t particularly likable as a couple, although their marriage was under a microscope in the entirety of the book. The themes of depression and postpartum depression weighed heavily on me and I don’t know if this was because the writer wrote Juliet’s character so well that you can feel the emotions leap from the page. The drama and tension of the boat journey kept me reading on and even staying up late to finish. Overall the book had very redeeming qualities. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

An interesting premise this one. A boat journey around the Caribbean where the husband and wife take their children and discuss their marriage and lives together
We hear the wife's narration and opinion of life and the rocky road they seem to be on and life is tricky for them all. The setting on the boat was claustrophobic and not at all relaxing. I felt I was reading scenes of that Nicole Kidman film Dead Calm come to life and was half expecting someone to come aboard.
This was a detailed analysis of a very complicated and complex marriage unravelling and it was sitting in a floating doctors chair with the talk of worries, challenges, problems and more. The husband does have his say but in the form of a sea diary of sorts. What you get at the end is an analysis of the family but there were moments where I just wanted to look out to sea.

This is absolutely fantastic. The writing, plot and characters are so perfectly written and developed. There is a delicious tension from beginning to end.