A stunning debut; a Departures original publication. The ultimate survival story; a wild ride—the wildest—down a South American river in the thick of the Amazon Basin; a true and thrilling adventure of a young married couple who survive a plane crash only to later raft hundreds of miles across Peru and Bolivia, ending up in a channel to nowhere, a dead end so flooded there is literally no land to … land to stand on. Their raft—a mere four logs—separates them from the piranha-and-caiman-infested water until they finally realize that there is no way out but to swim. Vintage Original.
Holly FitzGerald and her husband, Fitz—married less than two years—set out on a yearlong honeymoon adventure of a lifetime, backpacking around the world. Five months into the trip their plane crash lands in Peru at a penal colony walled in by jungle, and their blissfully romantic journey turns into a terrifying nonstop labyrinth of escape and survival.
On a small, soon-ravaged raft that quickly becomes their entire universe through dangerous waters alive with deadly animals and fish, their only choice: to continue on, despite the rush of insects swarming them by day, the sounds of encroaching predators at night. Without food or means of communication, with no one to hear their cries for help or on a search-and-rescue expedition to find them, the author and her husband make their way, fighting to conquer starvation and navigate the brute force of the river, their only hope for survival, in spite of hunger and weakening resolve, to somehow, miraculously hang on and find their way east to a large riverside town, before it is too late. . . .
more
It was an amazing book of survival, love, endurance and real courage. I couldn’t put it down. I will read it again.
This was quite a harrowing adventure that this couple took after their wedding. Holly and Fritz were going to travel the world for a year and while in Peru and just 5 months into their travels, they take a small plane from one jungle town in Peru to another in Bolivia both of which run along the Madre de Dios river in the Amazon. Their plane crash landed a short while later , luckily no one was hurt, but the only place nearby was a penal colony in the Peruvian jungle, where they would stay for a few nights before deciding what to do. It turned out either they needed to wait a couple of months for transportation, or they were told that they could take a raft, and with the rapid currents arrive at their destination, soon. So thinking it would be easy, they made a few adjustments to a raft they were given, and thinking they could get food from natives along the way took off. The first few days seemed easy enough but then a storm hit throwing them off course, and here is where the nail biting 27 days stranded, with no food starts.
This story will make it hard for you to stop reading, as you want to see if they make it out of this predicament.
It was also interesting to see how they held it together during this time, how it affected both their mental and physical state.
A very engrossing read, and a journey worth taking.
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group