This is the depiction by Marquez of a shipwrecked sailor, a fitting story for any sailor venturing out into the unknown.

This book is rather apposite as Marquez recently died bringing to light many of his lesser known works by Penguin Books. It was said by President Clinton ‘The most important writer of fiction in any language’. A book that has been beautifully crafted from the story of Luis Alejandro Velasco serving on the destroyer Caldas, from the Columbian Navy.

Eight of Velasco’s comrades disappeared in a storm after leaving Mobile Alabama having been refitted and heading towards their home port of Cartagena in Columbia. After four days the search was abandoned and he was officially declared dead.

However, ten days later Velasco arrived drifting on a life raft without food or water arriving half dead on a beach in North Columbia.

Although previously published in 1970, many of Marquez books are being reprinted and brought to light, to give the true story or as The Times puts it ‘A gripping tale of survival’.

It is a great read by a master of storytelling.