“You only truly possess that which you cannot lose in a shipwreck.”
‎― أبو حامد الغزالي

This is the amazing true story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey’s 118 days adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Maurice and Maralyn Bailey were stifled with their lives, they had a perfectly nice new home, a car and good jobs, but it wasn’t enough, so after much discussion and planning, they sold the house and all their possessions, and left a 1970’s crisis ridden England in their lovely new boat, and set sail for New Zealand. However, things didn’t go according to plan when their boat was struck by a whale, leaving them adrift on a small raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

On the face of it, Maurice and Maralyn were an unlikely couple - Maurice was awkward, uncomfortable in other people’s company and he was extremely cautious, whilst Maralyn was charismatic and up for any challenge, and although they both wanted to be free to travel, to escape, unburdened by the nine to five and expectations of other people, Maurice was a real loner, and being adrift in the Pacific Ocean was as near as he came to escaping civilisation - so close to a whale that he could look into the darkness of its enormous eye.

Adrift on a tiny raft in the vast wilderness that is the Pacific Ocean, they were at the mercy of the ever changing weather patterns, from violent storms to extreme heat, and with food rations dwindling, and fresh water becoming increasingly scarce, they were forced to use initiative in sourcing these life saving essentials. Maralyn was the one who kept them both alive though - as Maurice became more and more withdrawn, she tried to see the positives and did everything she could to raise his spirits.
By necessity they learned how to make fish hooks from safety pins in their quest for food.
*I should indicate at this point that the narrative includes visceral scenes of the hunting and killing of turtles, fish and birds (as well as the cleaning and gutting of these sea creatures), but it was not gratuitous, - the creatures were killed for food, for survival and not for pleasure.* I skimmed through this part.

Beautifully written, this is a riveting tale of survival in the most extreme circumstances, and of the power of love when all appears lost. Very enjoyable.

Maurice and Maralyn were a remarkable Derbyshire couple who set sail for New Zealand in the 1970s but were thwarted when they were shipwrecked by a whale. This is an account of theirs shipwreck and their life after the event.
It was fascinating to read about this devoted couple and only marred by the anti Christian comments that were dotted through the text. Ironically despite Maurice's vehement denial that God did not save them from the shipwreck it was clear that God really was preserving this miserable old devil's life! What really impressed me about this story was the profound love between Maurice and Maralyn - a model for a strong and happy marriage.

I have chosen Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst as a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month for book recommendation and sales site LoveReading.co.uk

Please see link to website for full review.

*I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Sophie Elmhirst's 'Maurice and Maralyn' is a riveting tale that transcends the boundaries of a simple love story to become a gripping survival narrative that captures the essence of human resilience. The book gracefully maneuvers through the contrasting personalities of its protagonists. What starts as an unconventional bond between these two opposites soon burgeons into profound companionship. They yearn for more than the dreary life in 1970s England and daringly decide to build a boat and sail to New Zealand, in search of a dream that promises liberation from the mundanity of their previous lives.

However, the narrative takes a turn from the quaint into the cataclysmic when Maurice and Maralyn find themselves adrift in the Pacific Ocean, their boat incapacitated by a whale. The ocean becomes a character in itself—a colossal backdrop for a tiny raft where the strength of Maurice and Maralyn's affections is tested to extremes. This is a book of survival, not just against the elements, but against the confines of human psychology in isolation. Both heart-wrenching and heartwarming, 'Maurice and Maralyn' is a testament to the indomitable will to persist, and to the power of unity in the face of overwhelming odds. This book is not only gripping and beautifully written, but it's also a reminder of the extraordinary lengths to which love can carry us, even at sea.

4.5/5

This is a superb read and one that I wouldn't have heard about if it wasn't for Vintage Influencers - and, of course, NetGalley's generosity with providing the galley.

Here, we have a true story - but this is literary non-fiction at its finest as Sophie Elmhirst, the author, tells the story of Maurice and Maralyn as if it is fiction - a love story of sorts.

The two central characters head off across the oceans on a mammoth voyage. This is the 1970s and the English couple have never done anything like this before. Unfortunately, their boat sinks after a very scary encounter with a whale and they are forced to live in a dinghy and life raft. Days and weeks move on. They aren't rescued. They kill sharks and turtles to eat. They collect rain water, which is sparse, and often tainted with the unpleasant taste, and colour, of the rubber canopy. Boats appear but don't seem them - and their flares don't work - not to mention Maurice who becomes really sick and nearly doesn't make it.

The story does, to an extent, end well. But it's extraordinary what happens to this suburban couple, two people in love who take a risk which is, above all, life-changing. Later in the book, the writer skips time - and we see Maurice alone with his sailing days a distant memory. I am just amazed that I had never heard about this story before. It isn't the sort of thing that many people do but it goes to show how stories dissipate and people forget as time moves on.

I loved 'Maurice and Maralyn' and this is a book unlike no other. Elmhirst deserves every success and I hope others feel the same.

I love reading stories of survival on the sea, and I was thrilled to read 'Maurice and Maralyn' by Sophie Elmhirst. This is a tale of adventure and endurance, storms and sinkings, challenges and companionship. And hope. This true tale takes the reader on a voyage of discovery, on a boat called Auralyn in the 1970s, in the company of the two titular characters Maurice and Maralyn, a devoted couple who long for adventure beyond the horizon. "The sailing was always liberating, but there was a gut difference between sailing along a coast, its towns and hills in sight, and sailing out on the open sea where there was no longer any visible evidence of other people, as if they might never have existed in the first place. Everything beyond themselves had gone."
When their boat is hit by a whale and sinks, Maurice and Maralyn spend the next 117 days adrift on a deflating life raft in the Pacific - "a wilderness so vast that storms gather and deplete unseen" - and this is the story of how they survived. With no radio transmitter, no water, no food, almost no hope. Only each other. Brilliant stuff!

A really lovely and oddly heartwarming story of survival and fierce love. Maurice and Maralyn, as the title suggests, isn't really about the shipwreck and months adrift in the Pacific that made them famous, but about two people who essentially tried to opt out of conventional life. The closing chapters, covering Maurice's widowhood and his all consuming desire to keep Maralyn alive and adored particularly charmed me.

Maurice and Maralyn is gripping story of love, companionship, grief, and survival.

Before reading this, I had not heard of Maurice and Maralyn and their shipwrecked journey. I am now glad that I know their story of resilience and love.

Told in three parts, we follow Maurice and Maralyn as they meet and quietly fall in love, deciding that conforming to conventional, land-based life filled with societal expectations, was not for them. I loved reading about this part of their lives, as at the time it would have seemed an utterly ludicrous thing to do.

Deciding to live their lives on a boat, sailing around the world with a set destination in mind, we see their journey unfold into the chaos of having to survive on a raft, with no working flares to signal help and little to none food or water. In this time, we see how Maurice and Maralyn's roles had reversed compared to on the boat. Maralyn was undoubtedly the captain, keeping the morale high and not giving into the despair that four months on a raft would surely lure you in with. I would have liked to have seen more from Maurice's perspective in this section to highlight his despair at the time, and how Maralyn was his anchor to keep him afloat so to speak.

The third section shows us that after their rescue, and survival, and fame they persevered in their dream and built their second boat; Auralyn II and how their lives faired after their ventures at sea in this new boat. The latter half of this section is where I fell in love with this book a little bit. Throughout the book, we are shown that this is not just a story about survival, but love and companionship. This shines through in this section with Maurice, and his love and adoration for Maralyn, being the focus. Whilst the book highlights that the couple complement each other in unlikely ways, it often focuses it from Maralyn's perspective with Maurice being the awkward dismissive one. I think having the spotlight on Maurice's taboo and ernest feelings in this final part reinforces the human condition to survive in life.

Overall, this is a short, enjoyable book that highlights the unlikely survival of a couple shipwrecked at sea which focuses on the emotions and feelings that make up the human life.

The first book I read in 2024 might end up being the best — a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction by Sophie Elmhirst. It’s a highly unusual love story between two slightly eccentric individuals who become an unlikely but unbreakable couple. Maurice and Maralyn Bailey escape 1970s English suburbia by building a boat and sailing to New Zealand. But, along the way, the boat is struck by a whale and sinks. The couple are left adrift in a life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and must rely on their bond to survive. It’s the very best kind of true story, and beautifully written. One line in particular stayed with me: “For what else is a marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive?” Strongly recommended.

This was fascinating. It reads like fiction, it's such a strange story. I was absolutely hooked from the outset. Much like the issues that Maurice and Marilyn faced when they were planning their second voyage and found that people were less interested in a successful sequel than a catastrophic first act, this loses some of its drive in the second half of the book, because nothing is really going to top being shipwrecked by a whale. But by the time things start to flag you're so invested in the story you have to find out what happens next.

Maurice and Maralyn tells the true story of a couple who were shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific ocean for 118 days. Elmhirst uses the couple's own words and the insights of their friends and contemporary sources to reimagine their life-changing experience.

While there were moments of real drama and pathos, I ultimately felt that the story's impact was weakened by its structure. The pacing varies widely, and while the focus is rightly on the fateful journey, I felt that a non-linear narrative could have framed the retelling so much better.

It's a dramatic story that loses some of its power in this straightforward retelling.

This is quite a fascinating book to read. The incredible story of Maurice and Marilyn is told vividly and I was really taken in by the story. Couldn't put it down. A few edits would be good, but generally well written with plenty of flow. The end is a little disconcerning, but it does make a point. All and all a good read, something different to what I normally read.

I wasn't familiar with the story of Maurice and Maralyn prior to hearing about this book, but it is a remarkable story that I very much enjoyed reading. The couple chose adventure ahead of the accepted societal pathway for their lives and though it took them to the very extremes of their ability to survive, it also brought them to life both as individuals and as a couple. There are lessons there for us all, which is what good biography should be all about, but it isn't that we all have to sell up and set off to sea, rather that our relationships are the meaning in our lives and that our shared struggles shape them. The way we live will be as varied as we are as a species, but it is worth remembering that it is by facing life together, whatever it might throw at us, that we love and live and discover our true selves.

An amazing tue story, of a young couple - Maurice and Maralyn, who both don’t conform to general life in the late swinging 1960’s! Maurice loves to sail and soon teaches Maralyn to share his love. Once married and living in a bungalow in Derby they soon become somewhat disillusioned with the monotonous life - especially Maralyn who persuades Maurice that they should sell up their home and it contents, pay off their mortgage and invest in a boat in which to sail the world. The dream takes several years to materialise but by mid 1972 they are ready to conquer the world. They leave England heading for Barbados. Maurice naturally takes the role of Captain and is so content that Maralyn has taken to life on the high seas like a duck to water. They meet up with friends and after a short break in the Caribbean set off through the Panama Canal having arranged to meet up with them again in the Galápagos Islands. An unfortunate encounter with a large whale leaves their boat holed and sinking and they are forced to abandon ship with just a dingy and a life raft. Undaunted they are sure they will be rescued by a passing ship but have no idea how long they will drift.

This is a gripping read thanks to the amazing records that they left. I couldn’t put this book down and have to admit that I have read it whilst on a cruise - maybe that makes it all the more poignant!! I would urge anyone interested in a real life saga full of highs and lows to read this story.

Maurice and Maralyn tells the true story of the couples shipwreck and the months they spent on a raft in the Pacific Ocean.
It’s a mind blowing story of resilience and love in the face of adversity. Their ability to work together, support each other and Maralyn's positive attitude were crucial to ensuring their survival - I can’t believe I didn’t know of their story before!
A highly recommended and compelling read ⛵️🐋

What an incredible story. I intended just to start it and then couldn’t put it down, I’ve been reading it all day. Absolutely gripping and written with warmth and empathy.

Maurice and Maralyn marry in the 1960s - him an awkward loner, she an optimistic adventurer.
They soon decide to jettison the trappings of a seemingly successful life and sell their house to pay for a boat in which to sail to New Zealand.
The main part of the book is the tale of that voyage and their days lost at sea when the boat sinks.
It’s fascinating reading and as much about their love and support for each other as their sailing.
The structure of the book is a little disjointed - they decide on a second major voyage but we don’t hear a lot about it and then we’re catapulted into their old age.
But I liked it very much: the story of two non-conformists who live out their dreams and jump straight back in when they fall is really inspiring to read.

Books and Bao Review: "Filled with danger, unwavering hope, and tender moments, the true story of Maurice and Maralyn's survival against the odds is a testament to the enduring power of love and the indomitable human spirit.

The couple spend 118 days lost on a tiny raft on the Pacific Ocean with limited resources and facing the harsh realities of the open sea, their love for each other is truly put to the ultimate test.

Their journey takes them from the UK to South Korea, Hawaii, and California in the seventies with a truly nail-biting adventure in between. It's a page-turner full of adventure, tenderness, highs, and extreme lows."

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Goodreads review: "I had never heard of the shipwrecked couple Maurice and Maralyn before picking this up, and it's hard to believe this ever happened and that they genuinely did survive being out on the Pacific Ocean for 118 days.

My partner and I were laughing because Maurice considered ending it all almost immediately and Marlyn holding them together with often unhinged blind optimism is absolutely how it would go down if we found ourselves shipwrecked.

I have such a fondness for stories of married couples getting through tough times together and this is where this book shines, it's a book full of touching and tender moments both at sea and in the aftermath where they end up rescued by a South Korean crew, and tour Korea, Hawaii, California, and beyond as their reluctant fame precedes them.

Being someone who has had a lot of skipper friends, friends with houseboats, and those who prefer life at sea, I couldn't help but think of them fondly whenever the couple talks about how suffocating they find life on land in the UK and was not surprised that they wanted to be immediately back at sea after their ordeal.

The pacing of this book is the only thing that stops me from giving it five stars, it takes a little too long to get to them setting sail and stays a little too long as we follow the couple into old age and beyond. The middle feels like being on the waves yourself, excitement followed by calm, only for things to amp up again unexpectedly. It can also occasionally feel disjointed, especially towards the end where it feels like a journalist piecing together what information there is and it loses its narrative flow and voice.

Overall, this is a very special book and a quick read that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys stories of people surviving against the odds. "

After they got married in the 1960s, Maurice and Maralyn were feeling stifled by their suburban British life So in the early 1970s, they sold their bungalow, had a boat built, finished the inside themselves, and set off to sail to New Zealand. Because they wanted to be truly away from 'civilization' they did not have a radio on their boat and they planned a route away from shipping lanes. They were happy and content with life at sea until one morning, a wounded whale rammed their boat, leaving a large hole. In less than an hour, they were on a life raft and dinghy with what few things they'd been able to salvage, watching their boat sink. Thus began their 118-day ordeal, drifting in the sea, trying to survive.

This book is the story of that event, but also of Maurice and Maralyn's relationship, which is almost a character in its own right. The relationship they had with one another was the foundation of everything--the choice to go on the voyage in the first place, the way it changed once the disaster had occurred, how things unfolded after it was over, and more. We see a bit about Maurice and a bit about Maralyn, but much more about Maurice-and-Maralyn. Today there is more acceptance of those who don't fit well within the confines of conventional society, but back then--at least in the world of US suburbia where I come from--there was little tolerance for those who didn't want to live that kind of life. I was fascinated by their strategies for dealing with that and by their survival strategies when things went horribly wrong.

It's a great book--part adventure story, part love story, part self-discovery story. I devoured it and I highly recommend it.

The true story of Maurice and his wife Maralyn, both unusual people, who take their boat on a voyage to escape the conventional life set out for most people.
When their boat is irretrievably damaged by a whale they are left afloat in their safety dinghy. What ensues is a test of their bodies, minds and will to live
The details have been taken from their extraordinary diaries.
A fascinating, gripping story