A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are listed by date, then alphabetically by author.

Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.

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Fiction

2004

• A Watery Grave
  Author: Druett, Joan
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312334419 Date: 2004
  LJ Booklist
  "A vivid, immediate setting and an original hero highlight this first mystery by historian Joan Druett, who brings her knowledge of 19th-century sailing ships and Maori culture to this salty tale of murder at sea."--Dana Stabenow, author of A Grave Denied.
  Suggested Reading Liss: Debuts
  Updated 9.7.04

2003

• Rope Eater
  Author: Jones, Ben
  Publisher: Doubleday $ 24 ISBN: 0385509774
  PW Booklist
  A voyage of Arctic exploration during the American Civil War becomes an epic of madness and survival, in a stunning first novel animated by the spirits of Poe, Crane, Conrad, and Melville.
  Suggested Reading Lists: Fiction & Mystery Debuts | Historical Fiction Stars
  Updated 11.25.03

• Star of the Sea
  Author: O'Connor, Joseph
  Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151009082
  Kirkus LJ
  In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the Star of the Sea sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go. As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this gripping and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion.
  Suggested Reading List: Historical Fiction Stars
  Updated 4.29.03

2002

• The Wooden Nickel
  Author: Carpenter, William
  Publisher: 0316134007 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0316134007
  Kirkus
  Lucky Lunt is an endangered species: a third generation lobsterman who works the same Maine waters as his ancestors. As waves of trouble turn into a flood tide, Lucky enters an epic confrontation with his enemies and a rogue whale--a battle his unreliable heart may not survive.
  

• Buried at Sea: A Novel of Suspense
  Author: Garrison, Paul
  Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060198672
  Kirkus
  Jim Leighton has always craved a real adventure, and sailing to Rio de Janeiro as deckhand and personal trainer to venture capitalist Will Spark feels like a dream come true. But Spark suddenly insists they're in danger from deadly pursuers and changes course for Africa. Jim isn't sure what to believe. Are they being hunted, or is he trapped with a dangerous paranoid? He doesn't have time to wonder, though, for soon he's alone at sea and fighting for survival.
  Updated 1/2/02

2001

• Sharpe's Trafalgar
  Author: Cornwell, Bernard
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25 ISBN: 0060194251
  PW LJ
  This number one international bestseller sends Richard Sharpe into a breathtaking sea chase and a savage battle off Cape Trafalgar in 1805.
  
• Rising Sun: Being the True Account of the Voyage of the Great Ship of That Name, the Author's Adventures in the Wastes of the New World . . .
  Author: Galbraith, Douglas
  Publisher: Atlantic $ 25 ISBN: 087113781x
  Kirkus
  In 1698, five vessels led by the flagship Rising Sun embarked on a perilous voyage for what is now Panama, where the passengers intended to found a colony at Darien. With them went the hopes and fortunes of the nation of Scotland, which sought to build an overseas empire so that it could compete on the world stage with England. Galbraith's debut novel is the story of this mission and its tragic outcome, as recorded by the ship's superintendent of cargoes, Roderick Mackenzie.
  
• The Nautical Chart: A Novel of Adventure
  Author: Perez-Reverte, Arturo
  Publisher: Harcourt $ 26 ISBN: 0151005346
  Kirkus Booklist
  Love and betrayal on the high seas highlight this new work by the bestselling author of The Seville Communion. Coy is a suspended sailor with time on his hands, a mariner without a ship. While attending a maritime auction in Barcelona, he meets a beautiful woman on a search for lost treasure. As they follow the course of past sailors, their own journey becomes perilous as secrets await in the depths of the sea.
  

• Force 12
  Author: Thayer, James Stewart
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 0375411038
  Kirkus
  From the author of Terminal Event comes the tale of Rex Wyman, a world-famous software billionaire who is determined to win the world's longest and most challenging yacht race through some of the roughest seas in the world. When a huge storm engulfs the "Victory", the stakes become not just win or lose but life and death.
  Updated 2/21/01

2000

• Requiem Shark
  Author: Griffin, Nicholas
  Publisher: Villard $ 23 ISBN: 0375503366
  PW Kirkus
  Set in the 18th century's golden age of piracy, this literary debut is the tale of a young recruit, William Williams, and his forced apprenticeship to Captain Roberts, slaver-turned-pirate captain.

  English Passengers
  Author: Kneale, Matthew
  Publisher: Doubleday/Talese $ 25 ISBN: 0385497431
  PW Kirkus
  When a band of smugglers sails for Tasmania, believed to be the Garden of Eden, they find the British "civilization" of the aboriginal tribes is in full force. Each character has a voice in the narration in this bravura performance, which sets new standards for historical and nautical adventure writing.

1999

• Voyage
  Author: Caputo, Philip
  Publisher: Knopf List Price: $ 26 ISBN: 0679450394
  Kirkus Library Journal
  On a June morning at the turn of the century, Cyrus Brathwaite orders his three teenage sons to sail away from their Maine home and not to reappear until September. Now, almost a century later, Cyrus's great-granddaughter, Sybil, is determined to know the heart of the story.
  
• Prince
  Author: Michael, Ib
  Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux List Price: $ 25 ISBN: 0374237239
  Booklist Library Journal
  A lyrical novel of icebergs, ill-fated love, mutiny at sea, and one intensely imaginative boy who discovers a coffin that has drifted ashore - with a handsome young sailor inside.
  
• Blue at the Mizzen
  Author: O'Brien, Patrick
  Publisher: W.W. Norton List Price: $ 24 ISBN: 0393048446
  PW
  The excitement of the Aubrey/Maturin series soars to new heights in this volume, as Jack, again the daring frigate commander of old, stakes all on a desperate solo night raid against the might of the Spanish viceroy in Peru.

   

1998

• The Voyage of the Narwhal
  Author: Barrett, Andrea
  Publisher: W.W. Norton List Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 039304632x
  PW Kirkus LJ
  A major novel by the author of Ship Fever, winner of the 1996 National Book Award for fiction. Part adventure, part love story, this unforgettable novel captures a crucial moment in the history of exploration. Combining fact and fiction, the story focuses on Erasmus Darwin Wells, a 19th-century scholar/naturalist and his expedition to search for an open polar sea.
  
• The Fisherman's Son
  Author: Koepf, Michael
  Publisher: Broadway List Price: $ 24 ISBN: 0767902440
  LJ Booklist Kirkus
  The Fisherman's Son is at once an intimate story of a troubled family and an evocative memorial to the fast-disappearing world of commercial fishermen. From its arresting first paragraphs to its shattering ending, this enthralling tale combines the lyrical storytelling of The English Patient with the muscular excitement of The Perfect Storm. A haunting, lyrical novel that combines bracing adventure and turbulent family drama in an unforgettable tale of the sea. - From the Advance Reading Copy.
  

Nonfiction

2003

• The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
  Author: Alexander, Caroline
  Publisher: Viking $ 27.95 ISBN: 067003133x
  PW Booklist
  In giving the Bounty mutiny its historical due, Alexander has chosen to frame her narrative by focusing on the court-martial of the ten mutineers who were captured in Tahiti and brought to justice in England. This fresh perspective wonderfully revivifies the entire saga.
  Updated 8.13.03

• The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darien Expedition and America's Ill-Fated Race to Connect the Seas
  Author: Balf, Todd
  Publisher: Crown $ 24.95 ISBN: 009609890
  Kirkus
  Based on the vividly detailed log entries of the U.S. Darien Exploring Expedition, this is a rich, utterly compelling historical narrative that will thrill readers who enjoyed Isaac's Storm, the accounts of the Shackleton expedition, and all similar sagas of adventure at the limits of endurance.
  Suggested Reading List: Travel Tales
  Updated 10.8.03

• Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery: The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
  Author: Philbrick, Nathaniel
  Publisher: Viking $ 27.95 ISBN: 067003213x
  Kirkus
  Like the award-winning In the Heart of the Sea, Sea of Glory combines meticulous history with spellbinding human drama as it circles the globe from the palm-fringed beaches of the South Pacific to the treacherous waters off Antarctica and to the stunning beauty of the Pacific Northwest, and, finally, to a court-martial aboard a ship anchored off New York City.
  Updated 8.25.03

• Cook: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook
  Author: Thomas, Nicholas
  Publisher: Walker $ 28 ISBN: 0802714129
  PW
  Blending an elegant, assured style with bold, cross-disciplinary originality, Thomas breathes life into the complex and controversial legacy of Captain James Cook, an often-misunderstood man.
  Suggested Reading Lists: Travel Tales | Sea Stories
  Updated 10.7.03

2002

• The Lost Fleet: The Discovery of a Sunken Armada from the Golden Age of Piracy
  Author: Clifford, Barry
  Publisher: Morrow $ 27.95 ISBN: 0060198184
  Kirkus
  In 1678, most of the French Fleet in the Caribbean sank on the killer reef of Lad Aves island, devastating the French naval power and sparking a new age of piracy. A renowned explorer interweaves the legend of this maritime disaster with the story of his expedition to the wrecks.
  

• Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
  Author: Dash, Mike
  Publisher: Crown $ 25 ISBN: 0609607669
  Booklist
  As richly textured as his acclaimed Tulipomania, Mike Dash's Batavia's Graveyard is the true saga of a mad 17th-century heretic who led history's bloodiest mutiny off the coast of Australia.
  

• Mutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of the Samuel Comstock
  Author: Heffernan, Thomas
  Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0393041638
  PW
  A bloody mutiny on a whaling journey, followed by an incredible tale of survival on land and sea. Samuel Comstock knew he was born to do some great thing, but his only legacy was a reign of terror--while on a whaling voyage, he organized a mutiny and murdered the officers of the Globe.
  

• Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
  Author: Horwitz, Tony
  Publisher: Holt $ 26 ISBN: 0805065415
  PW
  In an exhilarating tale of historic adventure, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Confederates in the Attic retraces the voyages of Captain James Cook, the Yorkshire farm boy who drew the map of the modern world.
  Suggested Reading List: Travel Tales
  

• The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima
  Author: Pleshakov, Constantine V.
  Publisher: Basic $ 30 ISBN: 0465057918
  Kirkus Booklist
  On May 14-15, 1905, in the Tsushima Straits near Japan, an entire Russian fleet was annihilated, its ships sunk, scattered, or captured by the Japanese. With a novelist's eye and a historian's authority, Pleshakov tells of the Russian squadron's long, difficult journey and swift, horrible defeat.
  

• Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Artic
  Author: Shaw, David W.
  Publisher: Free $ 25 ISBN: 0743222172
  PW
  This stirring narrative is the riveting tale of the sinking of the steamship Arctic --a story of extraordinary bravery and appalling cowardice that took nearly 400 lives and the American merchant marine business down with it.
  Links: Site survey of Artic
  

• 8 Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island
  Author: Thorpe, I.J.
  Publisher: Free $ 24 ISBN: 0743219287
  Kirkus
  Bill Bryson meets Thor Heyerdahl in this hilarious and perilous adventure, as an award-winning journalist sails 2,500 miles from South America to Easter Island in a reed boat.
  

2001

2000

• The Ship and the Storm: The Loss of the Fantome
  by Carrier, Jim
  Publisher: McGraw-Hill $ 24.95 ISBN: 007135526x
  Kirkus
  When Hurricane Mitch assaulted the Atlantic in October 1998, the sailing ship "Fantome" and her crew simply disappeared, leaving questions that won't go away. This piece of riveting journalism explores every facet of the tragedy, drawing on extensive on-site research and hundreds of hours of interviews.
  

• The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
  by Niven, Jennifer
  Publisher: Hyperion $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786865296
  Booklist
  

• Trial by Ice; The True Story of Murder and Survival on the 1871 Polaris Expedition
  by Parry, Richard
  Publisher: 0345439252 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0345439252
  Kirkus
  This true story of Arctic exploration details the unsolved shipboard murder committed in 1871 that led to accusations of foul play and a dramatic inquiry. The author draws on new evidence and recounts the amazing story of a killer who boarded the Arctic explorer "Polaris"--and got away with murder.
  

• Ghosts of the Titanic: New Discoveries from the Depths of the Ocean Floor
  by Pellegrino, Charles R.
  Publisher: Broadway $ 25 ISBN: 0688139558
  PW
  Using the latest technology to penetrate the Titanic's watery grave, the author of Her Name, Titanic recreates those last, horrifying moments on board the doomed ship and uncovers fascinating secrets about ocean life. "Like Godfather II", better than the original". -James Cameron, Oscar-winning director of Titanic.
  

• In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
  by Philbrick, Nat
  Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670891576
  Kirkus Booklist PW
  This true-life adventure tells the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship "Essex"--an event that served as the inspiration for Melville's Moby-Dick.
  Suggested Reading: In Search of Moby Dick: The Quest for the White Whale by Tim Severin.
  Suggested Reading List: All Stars

• Treachery at Sharpnose Point: the Final Voyage of the Caledonia
  Author: Seal, Jeremy
  Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 0151005249
  Library Journal
  Acclaimed travel writer Seal adroitly weaves Victorian mystery and pirate lore into this present-day detective story as he unravels the wrecking of a ship in 1842 off the coast of Cornwall.
  
  

1999

• The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner
  by Nicol, John
  Publisher: The Atlantic Monthly Press ISBN: 0-87113-755-0 $ 21
  Kirkus
  The spirited, eminently readable autobiography of an 18th century sailor and adventurer - recently rediscovered text that vividly renders the unforgettable story of a man whom history has nearly forgotten.
  

Links:

The Nautical Fiction List
Heart of Oak
Heart of Oak Sea Classics celebrates this memorable era by bringing back into print classics and works by the major authors in the genre. Whether fiction or nonfiction, each Heart of Oak title re-creates the milieu of tall ships, of intrepid adventurers, sailors, and soldiers, of monumental naval battles, of storms and shipwrecks, of men and ships in the clutches of historic events.
Novels of Nelson's Navy
Pirates of the Spanish Main - Classic Fiction

Overbooked On the Fly Themed Booklists