* A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK One woman. One ship. One astonishing true story.
'Hear the wind whistle through the ropes taste the salt spray and feel the roll of the
ship.... A true-life epic.' Peter Fretwell author of Antarctic Atlas ___ Summer 1856.
Nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Patten and her husband Joshua are young and ambitious. Both from
New England seafaring families they have already completed their first global voyage with
Joshua as captain. Their dream of building a home and a family is almost within reach but the
price of that freedom is one last dangerous transit - a high-stakes race to deliver supplies to
the other side of the country. And there is no alternative but to sail all the way around.
Yet as their ship leaves New York navigating towards the jagged coastline of South America
Joshua falls sick confined to his bunk and delirious. The treacherous first mate is imprisoned
in the brig for insubordination. With no obvious option for a new captain Mary Ann steps up to
take the helm. Within days she has put down a mutiny. Now she must attempt to steer this
216-foot ship laden with the modern equivalent of $11 million of cargo through Drake's
Passage and around Cape Horn - the most treacherous waters in the world. To the Edge of
the World is the true story of one woman who when faced with impossible odds would do all
that was necessary to survive. ___ 'In all non-fiction maritime literature this is a
story without parallel.' Mensun Bound author of The Ship Beneath the Ice 'What a
breathtaking journey! A spellbinding triumph of storytelling.' Marie Benedict author of The
Queens of Crime 'An epic tale of courage fortitude and grit.' Siddharth Kara author of The
Zorg
