{"id":177,"date":"2024-04-24T07:48:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T07:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gwynethlewis.com\/site\/?page_id=177"},"modified":"2025-04-28T11:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T11:30:12","slug":"two-in-a-boat-a-marital-voyage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/gwynethlewis.com\/site\/two-in-a-boat-a-marital-voyage\/","title":{"rendered":"Two in a Boat: A Marital Voyage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Gwyneth<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In her forties and recovering from a struggle with depression and, along the way, alcoholism, Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis decided to trade in a house in Cardiff and a responsible job at the BBC for life aboard a small yacht with her husband Leighton, a former bosun with the Merchant Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After buying a yacht \u2013 Jameeleh<\/em> \u2013 and teaching themselves to sail her (a process not without its fair share of disasters, from psychotic seas off St Govan\u2019s Head to a battle with buoys off Ballycotton), Gwyneth and Leighton set out to cross the Atlantic. But Gwyneth\u2019s seasickness and Leighton\u2019s daily deterioration into Captain Bastard were not the only catastrophes with which they had to contend. This strange, stirring and often hilarious account of their voyage is as much a beginner\u2019s guide to sailing as it is a portrait of a marriage under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwyneth Lewis\u2019s training as a poet and film-maker lends her prose a wonderfully visual quality, and her contagious optimism in the face of inconceivable adversity \u2013 not much more could possibly have gone wrong \u2013 makes this unique book both witty and wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018<\/em> Her yearning to belong to the age-old community of sailors is touching and inspirational. She learns to sail for the same for the same reasons many of us travel far from home. To be competent under trying and unfamiliar conditions is to feel free. [This is] an odd, charming memoir\u2019. <\/p>\nNew York Times<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018<\/em> Funny, profound and moving\u2026 Don\u2019t pack it away in the boat; take it home\u2019. Gwyneth Lewis writes with clarity, beauty and metaphorical precision\u2026 A triumph\u2019. <\/p>\nThe Guardian<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Lewis learns how the sea is an unanchored otherworld that tests everything that comes into its power\u2026 I have never read a better description of this process of discovery’. <\/p>\nLes Murray, Times Literary Supplement<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her forties and recovering from a struggle with depression and, along the way, alcoholism, Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis decided to trade in a house in Cardiff and a responsible job at the BBC for life aboard a small yacht with her husband Leighton, a former bosun with the Merchant Navy. After buying a yacht… Read More »Two in a Boat: A Marital Voyage<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-177","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo in a Boat: A Marital Voyage - Gwyneth Lewis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gwyneth Lewis\u2019s training as a poet and film-maker lends her prose a wonderfully visual quality, and her contagious optimism in the face of inconceivable adversity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/gwynethlewis.com\/site\/two-in-a-boat-a-marital-voyage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two in a Boat: A Marital Voyage - 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