Soul Voyage is a retelling in novel form of Joshua Slocum's own famous tale, Sailing Alone Around the World, the true story of the first solo circumnavigation which occurred from 1895 to 1898. This time a second major character comes along on the voyage: the "Pilot of the Pinta" whom Slocum mentions hallucinating into being. Their dialogue and shared experience are a conduit for a series of flashbacks serving to make Slocum's early life (especially his traumatic childhood at the hands of his father and incredible sailing adventures with his first wife, Virginia) a part of this vivid and indelible novel by Cameron Royce Jess.
What makes Slocum's story
unique is his miraculous resurrection of himself, beginning with his
rebuilding of Spray, the derelict oyster sloop which will carry him
around the world. As the solo voyage unfolds, the heedless adventurism
of his early life is contrasted with the heightened consciousness blossoming
in him as he completes his historic journey. Soul Voyage captures the
very essence of Slocum and his life-long obsession for the sea.