Episode 541 || Summer Readings: A Marriage at Sea
This week on From the Front Porch, we have another episode of Summer Readings! In this series, Annie introduces you to one book you should read this summer by reading an excerpt (with permission from publishers).
Today, Annie reads a passage from Sophie Elmhirst’s book A Marriage at Sea. Use code SUMMERREADINGS at checkout to get 10% off A Marriage at Sea.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 541) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, Annie is reading The Eights by Joanna Miller.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Transcript:
[Squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South. [Music plays out] And then what? After the wedding, after the honeymoon, well then it's just days. Ordinary days. The insurmountable, self-renewing chores. The bins, the laundry, the procession of meals. And those are the golden days, it turns out. The blissful, boring days that you long for when things go wrong. Sophie Elmhirst, A Marriage at Sea.
[as music fades out]
I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, we're back with another episode in our summer reading series. Before we get started, are you keeping up with all of the Bookshelf events? It's true, summers are a little quieter in the shop. I'm not sure if you've heard, but it gets a little hot and humid down here. But there is still plenty going on, and plenty that our team is scheduling fall. Maybe you think our events are just for locals, but even if you're not a nearby listener or customer, we have plans in the books for you too. From our fall Reader Retreat, to our Literary First Look programs, to our holiday shopping nights, we plan specific events for our long distance customers and friends. So to keep up, we have a couple of options for you. Choose the one that makes the most sense for you. You can follow us on Instagram @Bookshelftville, where we post regularly about in-store and virtual happenings.
[00:01:53] You can subscribe to our store newsletter, which lands in your inbox every Thursday and has a complete rundown of shop events. Or you can check our website, which Erin keeps updated with event details, dates, tickets, and more. There are links to all of the above in the show notes. So links to our Instagram, the newsletter, and the website. Summer might be quiet, but we are already gearing up for fall and we want you to be a part of it. Now, back to the show. When I found out I was pregnant and realized, oh, this really is happening, I tried to brainstorm ways to keep the podcast coming to you regularly this summer. I felt like it would be relatively doable because I already batch record episodes, and we rarely, if ever, run reruns on the show. And even though I'm not opposed to taking a break, that's just not something we've ever really done unless you count maybe some of the abbreviated episodes that we do around the holidays. But then Olivia also announced her own summer pregnancy and due date. And much like Nancy Meyers, I knew something's got to give.
[00:02:59] I could only batch record so many episodes before my own maternity leave, plus throw in a book tour. And so here we are. For the rest of July and August, we have been bringing you two podcast series. Next week will be our last From the Archives episode. I've recorded new introductions for three backlist episodes with guests I loved, and I think they're all perfect for summer listening. I went deep into the archives and I really do love these episodes. Then this week, I'm back with another summer readings episode. Our first two were about It's a Love Story, the latest by Annabele Monaghan and The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Motley. That was episodes 537 and 539. Well before I sat down to record the audiobook for Ordinary Time, I have always tried to find ways to incorporate book narration into all of our episodes. I want grown-ups to be read to, too. It's honestly why we start each episode with a book quote, why each holiday season I read, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
[00:04:06] I am also supremely aware of copyright issues, and that's why we haven't done more of these. But for this new podcast series, we got permission from publishers to read to you excerpts of some of my favorite new summer books. These episodes will be short and sweet-- much like our "Yes, Virginia" episodes-- but hopefully they will provide you with a taste of some new summer titles I think you'll really love. Each book featured can be found on our website, bookshelfthomasville.com, and each week, you can receive 10% off that week's featured selection. Today, I'm previewing Sophie Elmhirst's nonfiction book, A Marriage at Sea. There's something about certain nonfiction titles that just grabbed me during the summer. Maybe it's the idea, if only an illusion, that I have more time in the summer? I'm more inclined to give nonfiction a try because I feel like the days unspool before me, unscheduled and open. Even if that's not actually the case, it just kind of feels like it because the days are longer, maybe.
[00:05:09] In summer's past, I've enjoyed Dead Wake, Eric Larsen's book about the sinking of the Lusitania, Devil in the Grove, which I promptly made my entire family read, and Notes from a Small Island, which was my companion on our European adventure last summer. Is it because I miss homework, summer reading programs, required titles? I don't know, but something about summer draws me to nonfiction in a way I couldn't have predicted. Because it's also the time of year when, as readers generally were drawn to more stereotypical — I'm using air quotes here — beach reads like rom-coms and fast-paced thrillers. So when I came across A Marriage at Sea in the publisher catalog earlier this year, I was intrigued. A couple from the 1970s desperate for a more unconventional lifestyle set sail for Zealand from England. Adventure on their minds. But when their boat capsizes in the middle of the ocean, they get a whole lot more than they bargained for.
[00:06:09] This book is one of both literal and figurative survival. Will Maurice and Marilyn make it? And if they do make it, will their marriage survive? I truly could not put this book down. It was released in the UK last year. I did not know this until relatively recently, but it was released there under the title Maurice and Maryland. But now, it's our turn here in America, and I'm so glad it made its way here. It is fantastic nonfiction, a great counterpart to something like the novel Sea Wife by Amity Gage, or yes, even Peter Benchley's Jaws. It is summer reading at its finest.
[00:06:49] "Something was slipping out of his grasp, their story already being misconstrued. They'd only just come ashore, and it felt as if what had happened to them was no longer theirs. Maurice tried to straighten out the facts. He explained how they'd caught sharks and how Maryland had been better at fishing than him. He defended their killing of sea creatures. He knew it was wrong, but they did it to stay alive. He told them that thirst had worried them more than hunger, that the storms had been frightening, especially when waves loomed over the raft. And he spoke, too, of how he'd struggled. Only the tenacity of my wife kept me alive, he told the reporters. His impression of their roles had solidified into fact. He had given up; she had kept them going. But as he tried to explain what had happened, Maurice realized that nothing he said came close to the truth. He could describe how they made the fish hooks or cut up the turtles, but that didn't bear any relation to how fileting the fish or eating turtle fat had actually felt. How could anyone who hadn't known what they'd known possibly understand? Facts alone couldn't communicate the interior experience of being alone for so long in the blankness of the ocean, out of time, the only structure, the rising and setting of the sun. Nor could they say what it felt like to starve, to assume you would never see another human being again, to know you were dying. Maurice felt tired. Still, he did most of the talking. Marilyn, according to one reporter, smiled shyly by his side as Maurice explained how she had taken charge. "She worked harder and shamed me into doing things," said Maurice. She did not bully. She did it by example. When Marilyn did speak, she downplayed the hardships. "The only thing wrong with me is a wound I got when a seagull attacked me," the Daily Mirror reported. As if the weeks of starvation had had no effect. Another journalist asked her if she'd follow her husband to sea again. The small brunette said, "Of course," reported the Korea Times. The small brunette, of course. Would she follow her Husband? For a start, he had followed her."
[00:09:25] Sophie Elmhirst's A Marriage at Sea, released on July 8th as a hardcover. You can purchase it from the bookshelf website. Get 10% off this week by using code SUMMERREADINGS (make sure you include the S!) at checkout.
[00:09:46] This week I'm reading The Eights by Joanna Miller.
[00:09:47] Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Gene Queens, Beth, Jammie Treadwell…
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins
Annie Jones: If you’d like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the Podcast App on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see ‘Write a Review’ and tell us what you think. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to:
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.