If you liked Cheryl Strayed’s Oprah-approved memoir Wild, you’ll want to set sail with Linda Kenyon’s Sea Over Bow (Signature Editions), an epic adventure memoir that tells the story of a woman crossing the North Atlantic Ocean in a sailboat.Â
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Wild, Cheryl Strayed’s account of her gruelling solo trek of the 1,100 mile Pacific Crest Trail captivated readers almost immediately. It also caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who decided to restart her book club after reading it. After being featured by Oprah, Wild went on to become a major motion picture, produced by and starring Reese Witherspoon who garnered an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Strayed.Cheryl Strayed had decided to remove herself from the world to try to come to terms with who she had become and figure out how to move forward after suffering an immense loss. Although the terrain she had to navigate was difficult and often dangerous, Strayed’s inner demons were almost more life-threatening, and her self-imposed isolation made it impossible for her to ignore them.Readers who liked Cheryl Strayed’s Wild are sure to enjoy Linda Kenyon’s Sea Over Bow, an account of the author’s perilous journey across the North Atlantic Ocean in a sailboat. Similar to Wild, Kenyon’s story is about adventure, survival, and ultimately how venturing far out of your comfort zone reveals your inner and outer strength.Sea Over Bow takes readers to the middle of the ocean, one of the last truly wild places on earth. It’s a place most people have only imagined. Kenyon tells us about the beauty of the rising sun shining through the yellow and green stripes of the spinnaker and bathing the cockpit in soft warm light. About throwing up in a pail when the seas are rough. About the hurricane force winds that threaten to capsize the boat far from land or rescue. And about finding safe harbours and kindred spirits. The journey transforms her from a passenger in life to a sailor, a woman able to adapt, to take risks, and above all to find and celebrate joy in the moment.Like Strayed, Kenyon has seamlessly woven her past trials and life journey into a tale of epic adventure. Both of them discover that nature comes with challenges as well as opportunities to think, and dream, and make sense of life. However, unlike Wild’s solo journey, Sea Over Bow is also a love story; the story of falling in love with a man and of falling in love with the simple life on board a small craft in a large ocean, surrounded by the breathtaking beauties of the natural world.* * *Thanks so much to Ashley at Signature Editions for sharing the connections between these two books. For more literary comparisons, click here.
