In 1914, fear and paranoia rule the high seas. Young Iain Cosgrove sets sail for a research trip aboard Lady Balgay, the last of Dundee’s once-grand sealing fleet.
Fueled by rum and the crew’s eerie tales, they obsess over ancient superstitions, which Iain dismisses as simple lore – until they reach the frigid Arctic seas.
Soon, Iain begins to question his beliefs. But none of them are prepared … them are prepared for what they are about to face in the frigid, dark waters of the north.
Praise:
★★★★★ – “Helen Susan Swift has created a story for the ages with Dark Voyage.”
★★★★★ – “A great story of horror on the high seas.”
★★★★★ – “Very enjoyable read. Kept my interest throughout, as I enjoy horror and history.”
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An eerie novel set at sea in the early 20th century, Dark Voyage leaves the reader unsettled, yet strangely moved.
One of the best books I’ve read very good.
Great Irony!
Good read. Dark, dreary great description of a frozen north, turn of the century seal hunt and the dangers that surround, and emanate, from the crew.
Great!
So glad to have found this enthralling novel by author Helen Susan Swift. It’s my first by this writer but definitely won’t be my last. Already looking forward to book two in this series.
The premise is somewhat straightforward: newlywed Iian Cosgrove, a new doctor, and eager-to-please son-in-law is to act as ship surgeon aboard a small boat, Lady Balgay. His position onboard will provide Iian with an opportunity to secure real “life skills” for his future medical practice, his business mogul father-in-law (and owner of the ship) believes. Lady Balgay will travel to the north for one last sealing trip, bring home loads of seal blubber and skins and earn the crew pocketfuls of money.
When near-disaster strikes, the ship is forced to gather tons of shale from a secluded island. Superstition and a strange, morbid tale permeate the area though, and some fear that its sinister presence follows the crew onboard.
Things go from bad to worse when, following a brutal hunt, sailors begin to meet unfortunate ends. As tensions mount and mysterious strangers board the boat, the questions and superstitions continue to rage until a horrible tragedy befalls Lady Balgay.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought the author did a wonderful job portraying Iian, the sailors, and historic events. However, if you’re a sensitive reader be warned: the seal hunts are very graphic and lack no detail. Other things that happen to people on board the Lady Balgay may be disturbing for you.
The author is a great writer. The amount of detail regarding the time period, clothing, culture, and ships/sailing was very impressive and kept me grounded in the time period. I was so enmeshed in the story that coming back to reality was jarring. That to me is a sign of a great storyteller.
An entertaining read that putts one’s mind in the place. It was easy to invision the happenings.
Can Nautical be a genre? This horror story is full of nautical terms and seaman superstition. The lady Balgay an old school ketch leaves Dundee in 1914 to hunt seals. The voyage seemed cursed from the beginning which adds to superstition and danger. Not all will return from the arctic. A keeper.
Very intense with good unusual ending. What a twist at the end!
For a full review please visit https://tinyurl.com/yajbw4kw.
This was a very well written book with a great story line I loved it.
Overall, this was a good and well written tale. I rarely rate 4 or 5, but this deserves it. That said, I will give a couple of negatives. First the basic story is good, but I was put off by what seemed to be superficial writing in the initial chapter setting up the discovery of the tale. Fortunately I didn’t let that stop me from giving the book a real try. At the conclusion I learned the opening and closing chapters were only a device to try to achieve a twist surprise – it didn’t work, and wasn’t a surprise and the basic tale would have stood very well on it’s own. Second, there is a time impossibility that was not necessary to the plot at all, and so created a distraction that did not have to be there. And as other reviewers have noted, there are a large number of editing failures it what appears to have been a decision to change from third to first person. While distracting and confusing to the reader, this didn’t spoil the book.
Good read, likes the history of the sailing in the way north seas off greenland. Unexpected ending
Loved the ending twist!!!
A decent plot and character development. Story cohesion could be tighter
This book had me spellbound. Simply could not stop reading it.
The author is definitely a talented writer. However the book became very slow in places and the promise of a jaw-dropping moment emerged many times but then would fall flat. Again, the writing is excellent but the story itself was disappointing.
This book was an okay read.
Highly imaginative novel. Rich in historical research. Unique ending. Entertaining reading for those interested in the era of whaling.
goes back in time, Two people in a ship wreck find this ship coming out of the ice and climb aboard, from that time on, the gal starts reading a diary telling the tale of what happened to the crew, if you have an imagination you can transport yourself back in time to where we did not have internet, and the small wooden ships got beat up and many sailors lost their lives..