Confident that nothing I told him would be binding, I explained the plan that I had been hatching ever since receiving the invitation: to write a memoir of the voyage for my grandson. His response was unequivocal. ‘I think it’s a brilliant idea. All boys love adventure stories.’ The description surprised me since I had perceived it as a story of discovery: self-discovery, to be sure, but as revelatory in its way as the voyages of Captain Cook. He questioned me on my approach but I had little to add except that I doubted I would aim it specifically at boys … which is just as well since, in the intervening fifteen years, not only has Marcus grown up but my readership has expanded to include two granddaughters. Gazing at the heap of typescript, I wonder how much it represents an attempt to relive my youth and how much to escape it. I trust that, having reached thus far (always provided that Leila has avoided her usual trick of turning straight to the final page), you will find it easier to understand – and perhaps even to forgive – your grandfather. If nothing else, you will appreciate why a man who has boarded only four ships in his life should have stipulated that his ashes be scattered at sea.
Acknowledgement
For the facts of the St Louis sailing, I am indebted to Voyage of the Damned by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, published by Dalton Watson Fine Books, 1974.
ALSO BY MICHAEL ARDITTI
The Celibate
Pagan and her Parents
Easter
Good Clean Fun
Unity
Copyright
First published in the United Kingdom in 2006
by The Maia Press, an imprint of Arcadia Books, 15–16 Nassau Street, London, W1W 7AB
This ebook edition first published in 2011
All rights reserved
© Michael Arditti, 2006
The right of Michael Arditti to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–1–908129–77–2
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‘Deftly written, deeply intelligent and wholly admirable’ Literary Review
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A Sea Change Page 30
