Two in a Boat

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.