Save Our Souls, Matthew Pearl
Save Our Souls, Matthew Pearl
List: $21.99 | Sale: $14.95
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Save Our Souls
The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder

Author: Matthew Pearl

Narrator: George Newbern

Unabridged: 5 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 01/14/2025

Synopsis

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom 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.

About Matthew Pearl

Matthew Pearl’s books have been international and New York Times bestsellers and have been translated into more than thirty languages. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Slate, and he edits Truly Adventurous magazine. He has been chosen as Best Author in Boston magazine's “Best of Boston” issue and received the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. He lived in the Boston area for many years and now lives in Florida.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michelle on January 14, 2025

SAVE OUR SOULS by Matthew Pearl caught my eye because of its title. A true Swiss Family Robinson story that involves murder sounded like the perfect break from all the fantasy novels I have been reading. However, what sounded like an intriguing story is, in actuality, a regurgitation of research and......more

Goodreads review by Brendan on December 21, 2024

I have read a lot of shipwreck books. There is a romance to the open sea, disaster, and the fight for survival under the worst of circumstances. I have also long decided to never take a cruise because I know too much. Matthew Pearl and his newest book, Save Our Souls, now makes me wonder whether I c......more

Goodreads review by Laurie on January 15, 2025

The author takes a kernel of an idea: the Walkers are ship-wrecked on Midway Island—will a man already marooned there save them? From this mini-plot, we are sailed away on various historical anecdotes of “black birding” while commanding a ship, insurance fraud by captains of ships, some stuff about......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on March 08, 2025

This was a short book at only 203 pages and really should have been a lot shorter. I would say that more than half the book got lost in the (sea) weeds by wandering a lot off topic. The side bars were interesting, but not needed to push the main story along, so often felt laboured. I also didn't lik......more

Goodreads review by Lauren on February 26, 2025

I usually love survival nonfiction, shipwreck stories, and narrative nonfiction in general, but this was a miss. I just don’t think there’s enough of a story here to produce a full-fledged book - perhaps a long-form Rolling Stone article, but not 200 pages of content. Pearl fills the pages with far......more

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