The Last Sailor

September 14, 2020
Two brothers grapple with grief and loneliness in Johnson’s melodramatic latest (after The Lightkeeper’s Wife). It’s 1898 in Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod, and Nathaniel Boyd, 29, and his older brother, Finn, wrestle with an all-consuming guilt over a boating accident 10 years ago that caused the death of their youngest brother, Jacob. Nathaniel has retreated to a shack on a remote island, and plans to remain a recluse forever after breaking off his engagement to Meredith Butler, his first true love. Finn is unhappy with his fishing business and his marriage. Both brothers struggle to maintain a relationship with their successful land developer father, who prizes financial success above all else. After Nathaniel Sr. sends Nathaniel and Finn to Boston to pick up a schooner, they encounter Rachel, a 17-year-old runaway, and, while sailing back to the Cape, face a treacherous storm—one of many (elemental and emotional) that overwhelm the novel. When their father dies, his will ignites a firestorm between the brothers, and it’s up to Meredith and Rachel to mediate a detente. Though the narrative benefits from rich regional and period details, the characters are painted with broad, maudlin strokes. In the end, this is sunk by too much sentimentality.

October 1, 2020
In Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, 1888, the wealthy Boyd family suffered a tragic loss when 12-year-old Jacob, the family's youngest son, drowned in a boating accident while out with his two older brothers, Nathaniel and Finn. A decade later, Nathaniel seeks only oblivion, living in a hand-built shack in a marsh, while Finn runs a fish shop and desperately tries to win their father's approval so he can start his own fleet of fishing boats. Before the accident, Nathaniel proposed to Meredith, and they made future plans, but after losing Jacob, his grief overwhelmed his love and he left her. When Nathaniel and Finn deliver a boat from Boston Harbor, teenage runaway Rachel coaxes them into giving her a ride back with them. An unexpected storm rears up, throwing Rachel overboard, and Nathaniel is able to save her. She suffers serious injuries, however, that lead her to the care of Meredith, ultimately bringing Nathaniel and Meredith back into each other's life. Johnson follows up The Lightkeeper's Wife (2014) with this riveting story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)