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. . . .
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Brings to life an innocent adventure gone wrong. You feel the personal joy and despair of the couple every day of their saga.
Loved This Book! What an interesting adventure Holly and Fitz had, and Holly describes it so well and with much detail. I couldn’t put it down.
Very good!
I don’t know how long ago this was published, but I regret not having run across it sooner. I have read a great number of survival stories, and this is by far the best writing I have run across in the genre. I truly spent terrible times with the author and her husband. I now know them and the people they met in Peru and Bolivia, and am also familiar with the feel of being lost in one of the deadliest places on earth.
It’s a scary ride on the Amazon! It’s amazing how the human spirit fights against all odds to survive!
What a tale of adventure and survival.
It seemed like a reasonable decision, but the a fateful twist, lucky to be alive.
Interesting book about a couple of world travelers on their honeymoon whose travel plans go awry. They decide to raft the Amazon to get to their next destination as they missed their flight and the next one isn’t for several weeks. It tells the harrowing story of that trip and their near death.
I enjoyed the book immensely! The only piece that had me SMH was the fact that they thought they could raft the river at all, having never done anything like that before. For two very intelligent people it seemed a remarkably stupid decision to have made.
If you like survival stories, this is for you. It is beyond amazing what this couple did to survive extremely difficult circumstances and to come out not only alive but loving each other more.
I love true stories like this. Having been to the Amazon Rain Forest, I could imagine and picture what they went through. Very interesting story.
A real page turner. So beautifully written. I was on the river with them because the descriptions were so magnificent. Haven’t stopped talking about this thrilling survival story!
Loved this book! Briefly, it’s the true story of a young, adventurous couple who become lost and trapped on a river raft in the Peruvian jungle. The story pulled me in immediately and held me there until the end. The characters are likeable yet real. The story was so well told I felt I was there with them in the rain, the heat and fear. I highly recommend this one.
I needed a book that I could escape to and this was just that book. Amazing they survived. Easy to read and entertaining.
Interesting
I couldn’t finish it fast enough, in fact I skimmed through the last fifty pages which I rarely do with a book. Too wordy, philosophical, whinny, and really not much of an adventure story. I thought it might be another River of Doubt but wasn’t even in the headlights.
Very well written.
The author and her husband are thoroughly likable adventurers, and she writes well. This account of their nearly-fatal encounter with a tributary of the Amazon many years ago is not, however, the ripping yarn I was hoping for. Rather than being a thrilling distraction from isolation in the time of COVID 19, it is a distressing account of a particularly horrible incident of getting stuck. Maybe save it for when we can roam together again.
This book starts off with a couple on vacation until it turns into the vacation from Hell!!! A real page turner!!
I like reading this type of book as I can pat myself on the back for never doing anything so stupid. That said, it was entertaining and a fast read. I liked the end when the author brought us up to date on her husband and her life. Amazingly, they had numerous traveling adventures AFTER they survived the ordeal described in the book. I would hope that lessons had been learned and maturity had kicked in by then.
Great true life action adventure of 2 people lost and alone in the south american rain forest.