Cabin Fever – Trapped On Board A Cruise Ship When The Pandemic Hit- Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin

In early 2020, the world was on edge. An ominous virus was spreading and no one knew what the coming weeks would bring. Far from the hotspots, the cruise ship Zaandam was preparing to sail from Buenos Aires loaded with 1,200 passengers – British, American, Australian, European and South American tourists, plus 600 crew. Most passengers were over the age of 65.

There was concern about the virus in the news but that was oceans away. Escaping to sea at the ends of the earth for a few weeks seemed like it might be a good option. The cruise line had said the voyage would go ahead as scheduled and it would be safe.

Within days, people aboard the Zaandam began to fall sick. The world’s ports shut down. Zaandam became a top story on the news and was denied safe harbour everywhere. With only two doctors aboard and few medical supplies to test for or treat Covid-19, and with dwindling food and water, the ship wandered the oceans on an unthinkable journey.

Cabin Fever is a riveting narrative thriller, taking readers behind the scenes of the ship’s complex workings, and below decks into the personal lives of passengers and crew who were caught unprepared for the deadly ordeal that lay ahead. It is a story layered with moments of peril, perseverance and kindness. A remarkable tale that is filled with individual acts of heroism and the struggles and the tragedies of the crew and passengers.

Review

Cabin Fever is a non-fiction book about a cruise ship hit by a Covid 19 outbreak as the pandemic hit countries around the world. It found itself sailing from port to port, being denied access, out of fear they would bring the virus to countries yet to feel the full force of this terrifying new threat. It is a story of heroism, of survival and it speaks to all of us, as the terror we all experienced, is played out on the small stage, in the agraphobic confines of a ship wandering the ocean in search of a safe haven.

What I loved is that although it is a non-fiction account, it has all the elements of a thriller, full of tension and anxiety. Anticipation around the fate of the crew and the passengers and their battle for survival. When reading, you could almost feel like you are turning the pages a great novel about terror at sea and yet this is a true story, one we all watched unfold on our TV screens and wondered how those locked away in their cabins were feeling. By reading Cabin Fever we learn not only about the events on the ship, how they effected everyone, we feel both their terror and the terror of the countries they appealed to help for. It doesn’t always make far easy reading, but it’s honesty, shows us the resilence of mankind and the kindness of all those fighting to bring them safely home.

The detail of the research pays dividends, because you really feel as if you are there on the ship with them all, so real does it all feel as you are reading. The atmopshere the writers create is quite astonishing, you can feel the frustrations of the passengers as they realise the cruise company are not being truthful with them. The building fear as they realise Covid 19 is onboard the ship and the terror of being locked in their cabins, ill, with dwindling medical supplies and little hope of help. The crew worked to exhaustion, falling ill with Covid themselves, were a remarkablle group of people, having to carry on working while ill. Some so overworked, the virus took a terrible toil on them.

It is a remarkably honest account and a very moving one. But it is the honestly of the account, the tribute paid to all those that helped those stuck on the ship that makes it a very rewarding read. Many that ran the cruise company didn’t cover themselves with glory and the book is rightly honest about this and that made me feel angry. That was then tempered with the bravery of the passangers, of the crew, of the pilots who boarded the ship to guide them through the Suez Canal, that was the beating heart of this book.

It is a very thrilling read, all the more because it is non-fiction and though we were not on the ship with them, the stories, the events are so vividly recreated we feel we are. We all lived through the terror as covid hit and it makes this story all the more emotional to read.

About the authors

MICHAEL SMITH is a Miami-based investigative reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek. He’s written about financial crimes, corruption, narcotics and human trafficking, and environmental and labor abuses in supply chains. Recently, he reported extensively on COVID outbreaks on cruise ships. Smith’s national awards include the prestigious George Polk, Maria Moors Cabot, Robert F. Kennedy, and Gerald Loeb awards. Cabin Fever is his first book.
 
JONATHAN FRANKLIN is a journalist and TV commentator based in South America for the past 24 years. Franklin’s most recent book A Wild Idea (HarperOne, 2021) chronicles the rollicking life of The North Face founder Doug Tompkins, who moved to a shack in Patagonia, gave away his riches, and became one of the world’s greatest land conservation activists. Franklin writes about conservation, organized crime, and survival at sea. His work is featured at www.JonathanFranklin.com. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Night Shadows by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir

The small community of Akranes is devastated when a young man dies in a mysterious house fire, and when Detective Elma and her colleagues from West Iceland CID discover the fire was arson, they become embroiled in an increasingly perplexing case involving multiple suspects. What’s more, the dead man’s final online search raises fears that they could be investigating not one murder, but two.

A few months before the fire, a young Dutch woman takes a job as an au pair in Iceland, desperate to make a new life for herself after the death of her father. But the seemingly perfect family who employs her turns out to have problems of its own and she soon discovers she is running out of people to turn to.

As the police begin to home in on the truth, Elma, already struggling to come to terms with a life-changing event, finds herself in mortal danger as it becomes clear that someone has secrets they’ll do anything to hide…

The small community of Akranes is devastated when a young man dies in a mysterious house fire, and when Detective Elma and her colleagues from West Iceland CID discover the fire was arson, they become embroiled in an increasingly perplexing case involving multiple suspects. What’s more, the dead man’s final online search raises fears that they could be investigating not one murder, but two.

A few months before the fire, a young Dutch woman takes a job as an au pair in Iceland, desperate to make a new life for herself after the death of her father. But the seemingly perfect family who employs her turns out to have problems of its own and she soon discovers she is running out of people to turn to.

As the police begin to home in on the truth, Elma, already struggling to come to terms with a life-changing event, finds herself in mortal danger as it becomes clear that someone has secrets they’ll do anything to hide…

Review

Night Shadows is the third thrilling instalment in the Forbidden Iceland Series; returning the reader to the town of Akranes and Detective Elma. The story revolves around the death of a young man and the mystery of a young girl who seems to have disappeared, provoking a multi angled investigation.

The art of a great thriller is to keep the reader’s undivided attention from the first page to the last, without over playing the tension and ignoring the need for a fabulous story! The beauty of Night Shadows is it does just that. The pace builds beautifully over the story arc with pitch perfect handling of suspense. It feels almost as if the threatening undercurrents that are bubbling under the surface, seep deep it into the soul of the reader, until it is utterly impossible to put the novel down. The writer perfectly judges how much tension to inject at each point, so that the reader feels neither underwhelmed or overwhelmed. Cleverly she switches from scenes in which characters like Detective Elma are discussing life changing events with her sister, to having her literally in danger of losing her very life. This switching seemlesy from quiet family chats to life threatening situations creating a moments for the reader to draw breath, before once again being plunged into Elma’s quest to bring a killer to justice.

It would have been easy for a story with so many characters and so many potential suspects to feel cluttered and unbalanced. In Night Shadows though the writer handles them all beautifully, developing Elma as a character, allowing her to cement herself as one of the best female detectives in a medium so often dominated by males. Her keen intelligence is allowed to unravel a mystery, while coming to terms with change to her own life, that will have consequences in future both in her personal and professional life. I like that she is not a steriotypical hard hitting career women or floating through this story while the men take over the investigation.

The writer weaves two story threads that at first felt to me to be unconnected, but then revealed themselves to become a classical tale of small town intrigue and simmering tensions. Nothing is as it initially seemed and it thrilled me to realise that just as I felt the story had come to an end, the writer left me once again feeling unsettled. So much so that I had to sit up, take a breath and look at each character in a whole new light. She not only managed to deceive me in Night Shadows, she left me wanting more…..

About the author

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study my MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland.

Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel. The book went on to win the Blackbird Award and became an Icelandic bestseller. Eva now lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík, staying at home with her youngest until she begins Kindergarten.

Translated by

Victoria Cribb studied and worked in Iceland for many years. She has translated more than 25 novels from the Icelandic and, in 2017, she received the Orðstír honourary translation award for services to Icelandic literature.

The White Hare by Jane Johnson

In a valley steeped in legend lies an abandoned house where Edens may be lost, found and remade…

The White Valley in the far west of Cornwall cuts deeply through bluebell woods down to the sea. The house above the beach has lain neglected since the war. It comes with a reputation, which is why Mila and her mother Magda acquire it so cheaply in the fateful summer of 1954.

Magda plans to restore the house to its former glory: the venue for glittering parties, where the rich and celebrated gathered for bracing walks by day and sumptuous cocktails by night. Mila’s ambitions, meanwhile, are much less grand; she dreams of creating a safe haven for herself, and a happy home for her little girl, Janey.

The White Valley comes with a long, eventful history, laced with tall tales. Locals say that a white hare may be seen running through the woods there; to some she’s an ill omen, to others a blessing. Feeling fragile and broken-hearted, Mila is in need of as many blessings as she can get. But will this place provide the fresh start she so desperately needs?

Review

I have always loved a well written piece of historical fiction, especially when it is twinned up, with a smattering of folklore and just a touch of fantasy. This being why The White Hare, is the prefect example of one of my favorite types of books.

It’s a passionately wrought tale of family secrets, of how the past leaks into the future. Of how the places we live, carry within their DNA, the history of those that came before us. The land the story is set within, is as much a character as Magda and I loved how Jane Johnson brought the west of Cornwall alive within The White Hare. Anyone who has spent time in Cornwall, will know how the landscape feels imbued with the secrets of the past, of how when the mist drifts in from the sea, it can feel like there is an aura of enchantment wrapping itself around you.

The author manages to create a connection between the land and it’s people, giving the story a strong sense of a landscape haunted by past misdeeds, of secret and sacred places reaching out to rewrite the wrongs of the past. I loved how you never knew if the powerful spell the land exerted over Magda and the local people was as malign as the Reverend Casworan Martin implies or as protective as Keziah believes, until the end of the story. We, as a much as the characters, feel both the cloying embrace of The White Hair and it’s potential to protect us and Magda. Because the author weaves an intricate tale of a land brought alive when a new family come to live in a house long abandoned.

She also writes into the story a pleura of characters that you love and others that repel you. Magda the ‘heroine’ is allowed to develop as the story progresses. So many stories reduce the female characters to a supporting role, but with The White Hare strong females like Magda hold centre stage. She is vulnerable and yet determined, you want her to find peace and love, but more importantly you want her to embrace the network of female characters around her. Of course there is a character you find repellant, but they are there to provide the drama, to create the tension, you hate them and enjoy doing so.

This is the type of book you read for pleasure, unable to pull yourself away from the story and the characters.

You can buy this novel from Amazon and from Waterstones. You can also buy it from any of our fabulous independent bookshop.

About the author

Jane Johnson is a British novelist and publisher. She is the UK editor for George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb and Dean Koontz and was for many years publisher of the works ofJ.R.R. Tolkien. Married to a Berber chef she met while researching The Tenth Gift, she lives in Mousehole, Cornwall, and Morocco.

You can follow the author on Twitter @JaneJohnsonBakr 

My Wonderful Reading Year – June 2022 – The Journey Continues.

Here we are, summer has arrived and I have added tending to my garden to the list of the things I love to do at this time of the year. When it is cooler, I love to sit with a good book and relax, moving to the cool of my house when my south facing garden becomes too hot. I find myself drawn away from reviewing books for blog tours and towards reading simply for pleasure, something I will be doing more of this summer. I have strayed from the path of tackling my to be read pile of books, but hope to remedy that as well.

So here we go! These are the books I read in June 2022.

Villager by Tom Cox.

It feels like a cliché to say that when I pick up a novel I have certain expectations. Sometimes I love when a book delivers exactly what I want, other times I feel a tiny bit let down, because as reader I still want to be enchanted and challenged! I want a piece of writing that feels authentic and original. Villager by Tom Cox is all this and I felt eutrophic that I had found a piece of writing that felt exciting, different and best of imaginative. The writing is vivid and the characters felt alive, talking to me from the page in glorious detail.

The Beach House by Beverley Jones

There is a sense of snobbery from some towards thrillers, put down as having mass market appeal, as if that in some way, is an insult. But the reason this genre has such appeal is because it can create a sense of excitement in the readers, so many other genres can’t and when done well, they are cracking reads. The Beach House is an example of this, the story vibrates with tension, it doesn’t run along out of control, but like a ticking clock, slowly counts down to an ending that has you holding you breath!

Gentleman Jack – The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma

I picked this non fiction title up because I love the story of Anne Lister and loved the TV adaption of her life. It has, I am ashamed to say, sat on my bookshelf for over two years, bought on a city break in the summer before the Covid Pandemic changed our lives forever. I found it to be a fascinating and moving read, that told the story of a remarkable women through her own words.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was the book chosen by book group for June and I really enjoyed it. I’m not a massive fan of dystopian fiction, but I loved this one. The idea of a world without books scares me, so I found it both chilling and haunting.

Nothing Else by Louise Beach

Read as part of a blog tour nothing else is a beautiful and haunting tale of love and kinship. I am a massive fan of Louise Beeches writing and I love how she always manages to capture the essence of what connects us. Stunning writing once again.

Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz

It seems too simplistic to say this book is beautifully written, one of the best books I have read this year, but it is true. Here we have two women who find redemption by simply allowing each to be, not asking or demanding, simply coming to an acceptance of what it means to find acceptance.

The Secret LIfe of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain

It is impossible as far as I am concerned to read this novel and not fall head over heals with Albert. It is a story of finding acceptance, of being true to who you are. Here is an LGBT+ story that will warm your heart and remind you that we all have the right to find love and be loved.

An Extra Pair of Hands by Kate Moss

A deeply moving account of what it really means to be a carer, told with love and honesty, this is a book we should all read. I found myself seeing within it’s pages a tender understanding of not just the hardships and stress brought about by caring for someone, but the joy and rewards it can bring.

Well that was June 2022 and it was a wonderful reading month. I’m hoping to delve deeper into my piles of books in July and I am excited to discover new and wonderful stories.