THE BOOK
MAURICE AND MARALYN: AN EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORY OF SHIPWRECK, SURVIVAL AND LOVE
BY SOPHIE ELMHIRST
An extraordinary true story of shipwreck, survival and love. Bored of 1970s suburban life, Maurice and Maralyn plan their escape: sell the house, build a boat, set sail for New Zealand. Then, halfway around the world, their beloved boat is struck by a whale and the pair are cast adrift. Alone on a tiny raft, their love is put to the test.
SOPHIE ELMHIRST
Sophie Elmhirst is a prizewinning writer for the Guardian Long Read and The Economist’s 1843 magazine, and a contributing editor at the Gentlewoman and Harper’s Bazaar. In 2020 she won the British Press Award for Feature Writer of the Year; she has also won a Foreign Press Award and been longlisted for the Orwell Prize. She first came across the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey researching a piece on our desire to escape. This is her first book. She lives in London.
Photography © Marc Sethi
