Save Our Souls
The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
From the bestselling author of The Taking of Jemima Boone, the unbelievable true story of a real-life Swiss Family Robinson (and their dog) who faced sharks, shipwreck, and betrayal.
On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the Walkers—the ship’s captain Frederick, his wife Elizabeth, their three teenage sons, and their dog—along with the ship’s crew. The family had spotted a promising fishing location when a terrible storm arose, splitting their vessel in two and leaving those onboard adrift on the perilous sea.
When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore—on an island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans. Hans appeared to have been there for a while and could quickly educate the Walkers and their crew on the island’s resources. But Hans had a secret . . . and as the Walker family gradually came to learn more, what seemed like a stroke of luck to have the mysterious man’s assistance became something ominous, something darker.
Like David Grann and Stacy Schiff, Matthew Pearl unveils one of the most incredible yet little-known historical true stories, and the only known instance in history of an actual family of castaways. Save Our Souls asks us to consider who we might become if we found ourselves trapped on a deserted island.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this rousing history, novelist Pearl (The Taking of Jemima Boone) recounts a 19th-century family's shipwreck on a tiny Pacific Island. In 1887, Irish ship captain Frederick Walker set sail from Hong Kong with his wife and their three teenage sons on board a schooner fishing for sharks in the Pacific. The ship left the mainland in October of that year, but in February 1888, it crashed into a reef during a series of powerful storms. In lifeboats, the crew reached nearby Sand Island—a small, barren patch of land—kicking off a year of harrowing struggle. Shortly after the wreck, the Walkers and their shipmates discovered a hut on the island inhabited by Danish castaway Hans Jorgensen. While Jorgensen and his wilderness expertise were initially welcomed, a series of "rage-filled outbursts" quickly made the Walkers wary. Gradually, they learned that Jorgensen was intentionally marooned by another ship after committing murder. Pearl paces the account like a thriller as he details Jorgensen's multiple crimes and how the Walkers managed to cohabitate with him until, in 1889, a passing ship rescued them. This real-life Swiss Family Robinson will keep readers up all night.
