Title: Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
Author: Matthew Pearl
Summary: On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the Walkers—along with the ship’s crew. Their vessel split in two during a harsh storm, 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. 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.
Score: ★★★1/2☆☆
Review:A very well written narrative of the real life castaway Walker family and crew of the Wandering Minstrel⚓ stranded on Midway island🏝️. The research done was indepth, but was written and presented in a way that read like a suspenseful and engaging novel more than just info-dumping, which I greatly appreciated and was what kept me intrigued! The parallels of the family to the classic story of the Swiss Family Robinson was eeirly similar, despite the novel, and other famous castaway stories, having come out years prior, but as usual - real life can tend to be a bit darker and show the worser side of humanity but still showcase the strength and resilience of community and family. The book focused a lot more on a few of main crew members and some people on the mainland that were involved than I would have liked. Those stranded on Midway island, a halfway point between Japan and Hawaii, were stuck for 14 months but it got boiled down to only a few chapters of this 18 chapter book. Although I wish there was more accounts of the Walker family there were so many twists of betrayal, governments evolving, and pieces to cover, its understandable that most of their life is told at the start and near the end of the book after they got off the island. It was amazing to find out that a lot of what the family built and wrote, both on and off the island, still stands and works today. For telling so much, the book is short yet packed full of information and historical recountings. This is a great and captivating story worthy of any sailor or reader interested in an amazing collection of a real life castaways and their story.
Read my review on Fable