" is not a ghost story but there are ghostly and foggy desires, epiphanies and yearnings wavering in and out of ordinary days. And Linda Jane? And the too glittering sunny sea and the sleepy nighttime harbor's radio voices seeming to come from other galaxies? Okay then, there are ghosts. A memoir like none other." "In its honesty, focus on family, and lyricism, reminds me of and . And its unforgettable heroine, Linda Jane, is a true American original." "An exquisite memoir about lost love and the sustaining grace of the sea." "Part Maine memoir, part personal reflection, the book beautifully weaves together the geography of the New England coast with the contours of a life. …Yes, sailors will love this book.

But to say it is a book about sailing is as accurate as saying that is a book about fly fishing. Both of these books are about human love and longing, both are about family and friendship. What Norman Maclean did for Montana, Joseph Dane has done for Maine, for he has scripted out the story of a lifetime lived on water." " combines memoir, elegy, quest narrative, sailing chronicle, and love story, and is held together by a remarkable voice-taut, frequently sardonic, precise, and utterly merciless towards all pretensions, all comforting illusions. It is a beautiful and moving book, propelled and obstructed by its emotional intensity, on the one hand, and its unrelenting, self-deflating intelligence on the other. I found myself thinking of W. G. Sebald's : not in its subject matter, but in its compelling inconsolability.

But real books by real writers are sui generis, and this is a real book by a real writer." "This book by Joseph Dane is what memoir should be. It is open, free, smart, and contemplative (without being philosophical). It is about sailing, yes, but it is also about time, about several places and one place, about the nature of metaphor and the limits of it. This is a superb work. (I would sail with this Dane fellow, but I would not let him choose a girlfriend for me.)" "A beautifully written account of sailing, and love, and geography, and memory-told in prose as clear and open as water itself.".