New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z By Title
Archives: A-Z By Author
Advanced Search

All-Time High Scores
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Books In Our Forums

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed books.

The Wreckers
A Story Of Killing Seas, False Lights, And Plundered Shipwrecks
by Bella Bathurst


N/A

based on 11 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?

based on 0 votes
read user comments
rate this book

Compare prices at pricegrabber.com

Buy it at powells.com

Buy it at amazon.com

Buy it at amazon.co.uk

Official Publisher Site

Bathurst's second book (after "The Lighthouse Stevensons") traces 300 years of British history by focusing on the shipwrecks that plague its dangerous shores.

Houghton Mifflin, 288 pages
07/14/2005
$25.00

ISBN: 0618416773

Nonfiction
History

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

The Guardian Kathryn Hughes

[The Wreckers] is... a fluid, fluent read, a kind of shimmering net of possibility rather than a definitive documentary account which, when you consider the hazy nature of its subject, seems exactly right.

The Spectator Andro Linklater

Through the small keyhole of shipwreck, this book offers a deep vision of humanity that is the more uplifting for its lack of sentimentality. I cannot recommend it too highly.

The Independent Bill Saunders

Bathurst is evidently a persuasive interviewer, and has opened a magic casement on to a lost world on the edge of living memory.

Daily Telegraph Kate Colquhoun

Some of her most intense passages about the movement of water are breathtakingly novelistic and poetically precise.

Daily Telegraph Piers Brendon

Often, too, those who lifted goods from dead ships also manned the lifeboats that rescued their crews. This is one of many paradoxes that Bathurst explores in a book that, though flawed, is perfect for the beach.

The Economist

Grimly fascinating.

Boston Globe Matthew Price

Bathurst is a footloose researcher and interviewer.... Though she meanders and too frequently digresses, she writes with a playful wit and is obviously captivated by the history of wrecks and wrecking.

Chicago Tribune Stephanie Zacharek

Bathurst... has a strong feel not just for the people who make their lives on or near the sea, but for the sea itself. [31 July 2005]

Publishers Weekly

An air of sweet melancholy hangs over Bathurst's poignant account of ships, men and the circumstances that tear them apart.

Washington Post Daniel I. Davidson

It's a smooth, enjoyable read, as long as we're willing to take entertaining stories at face value without meticulous concern for whether they may be a bit too good to be true.

The New York Times Book Review Sara Wheeler

Many of the quotations are far too long and undigested. It's a pity, as Bathurst is a good writer. I hope she finds a more substantial subject next time.

The average user rating for this book is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Discuss this book in our forums

Return to top of page

The Wreckers A Story Of Killing Seas, False Lights, And Plundered Shipwrecks by Bella Bathurst

The Wreckers
A Story Of Killing Seas, False Lights, And Plundered Shipwrecks
by Bella Bathurst