If I could give this story ten stars,I would.Two young people,man nine years older than woman,meet. They are so very different from each other but nevertheless fall in love due to their dream of sailing far away from everyone and everything.This is a true story about Maurice and Maralyn Bailey that are from an area near London.They scrimp to save money to have a sailboat built for them,Maurice then rebuilds all the storage units,they carefully stock all provisions that they will absolutely need and head for New South Wales(near Australia) from England.The stupid thing Maurice did was not to have any emergency equipment installed on board but wanted to navigate only by the stars as they did many,many years ago,due to a book he had read. Maurice was stubborn,difficult to deal with and would never listen to anyone else. His wife was easy going and let him have his way with his strange ideas. They get into a difficult horrendous situation with a whale that causes a hole in their boat which they couldn’t repair. They are on a part of the Pasific Ocean after going through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic Ocean. Taking as much as they can to survive for a short period of time,they pack their rubber raft that tows their dingy and abandon their boat that quickly sinks. The next part of the story tells how they try to survive for FOUR MONTHS till they are rescued almost just before they die. The rest of their story tells of them trying to recover from total starvation and other health issues. They were found in 1973 and their story continues,very interestingly to the end of their lives. This book describes everything so well,I could understand and envision it completely.A movie perhaps would be great to see!
Thank you Netgalley,Penguin Group/Riverhead Publishers,and author,Sophie Elmhirst for book,A Marriage at Sea.for the opportunity to read the arc ebook.
On sale,July 08,2025

A thrilling adventure story coupled with the strength and complexity of marriage. An unconventional couple looking to create their own unique life set out to sail from England to New Zealand by themselves. Their adventure takes a turn and they need to find the strength to survive.

Not only was this a page turner, but it also presented a genuine look at a marriage and partnership tested in the harshest of conditions. A genuine look at relationships, self reflection, and the beauty and ugliness of life.

A really interesting story of a couple that chose a different dream lifestyle, and then tragedy struck. You learn how they survived in the Pacific when a whale struck their boat, and how they survived for 118 days on the ocean with a dinghy and a raft. Set in the early 1970's Maurice and Maralyn Bailey eschewed a quiet life in 1970's England, selling their house and buying a 30 foot boat. Maurice was convinced the old, classic ways of navigating were best, and he opted not to have any electrical means of communication aboard. When their boat was struck by a sperm whale and sank, they had no way to send an SOS. Floating at sea Maurice's depression took hold, and Maralyn kept the pair alive, never giving up hope and improvising ways to fish and sustain themselves. When they are finally rescued by a South Korean fishing boat, their perilous journey comes to an end, but a new venture into fame begins. A nonfiction that reads as quickly as a fiction book - I recommend! Thank you to Netgalley for an advance reader copy.

I loved this narrative non-fiction tale of marriage, love, the sea and survival. Although Maurice and Maralyn are a little bit of an odd match, they have no idea what they are sailing in to as they abandon a mundane life for the simplicity and yes, the rigors of life on the open ocean. This story is full of heartbreak, hope and heroism. A perfect summer read for lovers of fiction and non-fiction alike.

Maurice Bailey and his wife Maralyn, outsiders in the stultifying atmosphere of 1970s England, scrimped and saved until they could build a yacht and sail off to sea. Calamitously, they experienced every sailor's worst nightmare: a shipwreck in the open ocean. Because Captain Maurice eschewed modern conveniences like radios, they had no way to signal for help. The couple endured a 118-day ordeal as they struggled to survive on a life raft with just the meager provisions they had quickly rescued from their boat. As supplies dwindled, starvation and dehydration became ever-present threats. Maurice's despairing nature didn't help matters any, either. Optimistic, resourceful, Maralyn saved the day.

Sophie Elmhirst's <em>A Marriage at Sea</em> emphasizes the love story behind the Bailey's survival tale in a narrative that is expertly crafted and gripping from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had never heard of this rescue at sea. Their relationship and their will to survive was amazing.

I read this nonfiction account of a 1970s shipwreck of a British couple, often with incredulity, and frequently while clutching the armrest of my comfiest chair to provide something land-based and substantial to hold on to. Elmhirst has crafted an arresting narrative, pieced together by archival newspaper research, meticulous readings of the diaries and logs left behind by both spouses (deceased), and by interviews of those that surrounded them as friends, distant relatives, neighbors and acquaintances. Putting any reality show promoting endurance challenges to shame are the facts of Maurice and Marylyn’s voyage: the destruction of their ship in the Pacific Ocean after being struck by a dying whale, and in the frenzied aftermath, their escape to a life raft with no radio communication, ancient navigating tools, limited canned food and water, and no fishhooks (but thankfully writing materials for them to both keep journals). The true story is as stunning, fearsome, and compelling as any adventure/horror classic. What threads through this account is the resourcefulness of the Baileys, particularly Marylyn, in getting food, water, and some semblance of shelter, as the ocean takes more and more from them. It attempts to steal their hope, particularly Maurice’s, as one ship liner after another comes tantalizingly close but fails to see them and passes by. How can a marriage, a connection between people, be sustained when faced with these terrible odds of survival? Elmhirst attempts to answer this in the five part structure of the book, which ebbs and flows between high drama and what comes after. It perhaps is a deliberate choice to mimic the shape of waves, of a storm, and of the calm before and after. This is at times disconcerting, though by the end of the book I appreciated it. My only qualm was how the eccentricities of Maurice, while interesting, often came across as a character defect, and were related without reference to the current knowledge of what being neuroatypical involves, which would have greatly deepened an understanding of his personality. Still, certain scenes from the narrative, such as Maurice’s mediation on staring into a whale’s eye, were beautifully drawn, as were the metaphor of the vows and promise and realities of a marriage and also of the sea. Recommended!

I really liked this book. The first 2/3 are stronger than the ending. It is a wild story and Elmhirst does a good job building the suspense. Overall a quick and super enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review. I truly enjoyed this book and knowing that it was based on real people made it that more enjoyable. What they endured was both harrowing and heroic. And they describe it with such matter of fact-ness, that it all seems so ordinary. Their marriage was so interesting too. They were just so compatible. I would highly recommend this book.

Wow! What an amazing story, and a wonderful reflection on marriage, survival, and human preservation. I love the background given on the characters individually and together as a couple and how things get magnified when you are faced with survival.

Lots of people fantasize about giving up life on land, chucking it all, and setting sail on a grand adventure. Maurice and Maralyn Bailey did just that in June 1972. They’d been married almost nine years, two loners who knew they wanted more from life than dull jobs and a plodding life in 1970s Derby, England. When their sea voyage turned into a harrowing story of survival against all odds, the couple would have to work together to have even the slimmest hope of rescue.

Sophie Elmhirst brings the exciting story of their ordeal to a new audience. After all, it’s been over fifty years since their quiet cruise turned a nightmare when a sperm whale swam into their boat, knocking a large hole in it just below the waterline. Few now remember the couple who almost perished at sea before being miraculously rescued after over three months adrift on their life raft and dinghy.

Maralyn was a bundle of enthusiasm and confidence; Maurice, nine years older, was quieter, with a stutter and a wealth of practical information. He’d not dismissed Maralyn’s wild idea of selling their small house and buying a boat to sail to New Zealand and other lands. Instead, he considered the possibilities. Neither was close to their family. They’d already made the decision not to have children. He and Maralyn enjoyed sailing and were untroubled by being on their own. He agreed, and the couple began to prepare for the adventure of a lifetime.

“A Marriage at Sea” opens with the sinking of their boat as the whale pierces the hull, leaving them to scramble to launch the life raft, all while watching their beloved Auralayn slip into the sea. Elmhirst does an excellent job of portraying the two, as they rush to grab food, water, and other supplies. Neither panicked. Maralyn even took some pictures to commemorate the loss. It was March 4, 1973. They had not included a radio transmitter on the Auralyn. No one would even look for them.

The two would drift for over 100 days, facing hunger, thirst, and eventually illness. Through it all, Maralyn never doubted they’d be rescued. Maurice was just as positive that they would die, though he knew enough to keep these thoughts to himself. They collected enough rainwater to stave off death by dehydration and soon learned to catch as many fish as they could stomach.

Each time they spotted a ship in the distance, no one spotted the tiny dot of their raft and dinghy until June 30 when the crew of a Korean fishing boat saw them and pulled them out of the sea. Elmhirst describes their rescue and its aftermath, including the reaction of the Koreans. Although their own provisions were not plentiful at that point in a long voyage, the captain and crew prioritized their unexpected guests. Maurice, although sick and near death, would recover. Maralyn was almost immediately ready to build another boat to set sail for Patagonia.

The story of their rescue was broadcast around the world. To survive on a life raft while drifting in the ocean for the better part of four months was remarkable. They’d made photos and taken notes during their journey. These would form the basis of a book they’d write to help fund the purchase of their second boat. By 1975, they’d be on their way.

The interplay between these two very strong personalities is as much a part of the narrative as their journey. Navigating their differences and learning to appreciate the other partner’s strengths kept them going. It’s extraordinary that they managed all they did during their ordeal. Their love story would end only with Maralyn’s death in 2002.

“A Marriage at Sea” will be published July 8, 2025, and I intend to purchase a copy for the library. Thanks to NetGalley for a pre-publication digital copy in exchange for my honest review.