The Stowaway, Laurie Gwen Shapiro
The Stowaway, Laurie Gwen Shapiro
17 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Stowaway
A Young Man's Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica

Author: Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Narrator: Jacques Roy

Unabridged: 6 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/16/2018


Synopsis

The spectacular, true story of a scrappy teenager from New York’s Lower East Side who stowed away on the most remarkable feat of science and daring of the Jazz Age, The Stowaway is “a thrilling adventure that captures not only the making of a man but of a nation” (David Grann, bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon).

It was 1928: a time of illicit booze, of Gatsby and Babe Ruth, of freewheeling fun. The Great War was over and American optimism was higher than the stock market. What better moment to launch an expedition to Antarctica, the planet’s final frontier?

Everyone wanted in on the adventure. Rockefellers and Vanderbilts begged to be taken along as mess boys, and newspapers across the globe covered the planning’s every stage. And then, the night before the expedition’s flagship set off, Billy Gawronski—a mischievous, first-generation New York City high schooler, desperate to escape a dreary future in the family upholstery business—jumped into the Hudson River and snuck aboard.

Could he get away with it?

From the soda shops of New York’s Lower East Side to the dance halls of sultry Francophone Tahiti, all the way to Antarctica’s blinding white and deadly freeze, author Laurie Gwen Shapiro “narrates this period piece with gusto” (Los Angeles Times), taking readers on the “novelistic” (The New Yorker) and unforgettable voyage of a plucky young stowaway who became a Roaring Twenties celebrity, a mascot for an up-by-your bootstraps era.

About Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Laurie Gwen Shapiro is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. The Stowaway is her first full-length work of nonfiction.


Reviews

❄️ 4 adventurous, Antarctic stars to The Stowaway ❄️ I enjoy reading nonfiction, and it’s a delight when I read nonfiction that feels like fiction. I would say this particular book feels mostly like fiction, but it is a bit on the detailed side. This worked perfectly for me, but I wanted to mention......more

Goodreads review by Andy

As a reader of almost anything that is polar discovery based, especially historical, I was really disappointed by this. It is the story of a young man, Billy Gawronski, Who stows away on Commander Byrd’s voyage of 1928 and mission to fly the first plane over Antarctica. Though Shapiro has done the n......more


Quotes

“Shapiro has rescued from oblivion a wondrous tale of exploration. The Stowaway is a thrilling adventure that captures not only the making of a man but of a nation.”
— David Grann, bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

“A high-concept true story for the ages.... Shapiro narrates this period piece with gusto.”
Los Angeles Times

The Stowaway proves that fact is stranger and funnier and more amazing than fiction. Laurie Gwen Shapiro artfully draws the reader into the tale of Billy Gawronski, a dreamer and adventurer. Through the wild story of his travels to Antarctica, we see history come vividly to life.”
— Susan Orlean, bestselling author of Rin Tin Tin

“Laurie Gwen Shapiro wrote The Stowaway like a Jack London novel: with a sense of adventure, wonderful detail, a lineup of intriguing characters, and above all a great story. This is the best of nonfiction.”
— Mark Kurlansky, bestselling author of Paper

“A fascinating window into... the exuberant 1920s and the crushing Depression that followed.... A must-read.”
— USA Today 

“Inspired by [an] engrossing yet little-known case of derring-do, [The Stowaway] evokes the magic of early 20th-century New York.”
 The New York Times

“What has the world come to when sled dogs and short wave radio mix, when wooden sailing barks compete with aeroplanes, when ‘Eskimos’ figuratively dance with flappers, and all of this is captured and disseminated by the first public relations hucksters? Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s The Stowaway is magnificent.”
— Bob Drury & Tom Clavin, bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is

The Stowaway tells one of the most engaging, but forgotten, stories from the Age of Exploration. A fascinating and charming book—I highly recommend it!”
— Douglas Preston, bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God  

“Isn’t this how history sometimes is best told, when a passing curiosity melds with diligent work? The Stowaway is a charming book, a glimpse of history that, by definition, fascinates and delights.”
Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Laurie Gwen Shapiro's The Stowaway is full of twists, turns, and moments of pure wonder—both joy to read and a surprisingly insightful tale of scientific exploration at its generous and courageous best.”
— Deborah Blum, bestselling author of The Poisoner’s Handbook