After a brush with cancer, a lawyer sets sail with her husband to circumnavigate the globe in this debut memoir.

Farrow-Gillespie had long dreamed of sailing around the world. After her breast cancer went into remission, the 38-year-old attorney and her doctor husband, Alan, quit their jobs, sold their home, put their possessions in storage, and purchased a boat. They had the vessel shipped to America all the way from Taiwan. Together, they spent the next six years crisscrossing the globe on the Heartsong III, beginning and ending in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Along the way, the couple visited more than 50 countries, wandered around Dubrovnik, traversed the Strait of Gibraltar, explored Fiji, and encountered a subculture of fellow circumnavigators who shared a taste for adventure. For Farrow-Gillespie and her husband, the trip was born of a desire to “see the world—not just for two vacation weeks at a time—but to really see it, and to sail across all of the oceans on the way.” Early on, while Alan slept and the author was navigating in the Bermuda Triangle, they had a seemingly close encounter with a freighter. Readers discover that Farrow-Gillespie passed the exam for the United States Coast Guard charter captain license at the top of her class. One of the dictums she learned was “He who has the tonnage makes the rules.” Some chapters take the form of logbook entries—as in their final trek across the Atlantic—while most are prefaced with a kind of FAQ section, which serves as a guide for readers planning their own sailing trips around the world. For instance, as to the question of whether pirates are still out there, the author writes: “Why yes there are. We’re still probably a whole lot safer at sea than on a Dallas freeway, though.” Letters to friends at home are interspersed throughout. The mix of formats and the author’s colloquial tone make this book a pleasant read. Farrow-Gillespie writes movingly about her “love affair with the sea.” Her and Alan’s trip is filled with moments of quiet beauty and contemplation on the open water. She is also frequently funny. During a Caribbean swim, her “reverie is interrupted by the sight of a dorsal fin at about 50 yards, coming straight at me. I do a fair imitation of Bugs Bunny walking on water back to the boat’s swim ladder, and then realize that it is not a shark but a dolphin.”

A quick-witted, humorous, and inspiring account of a couple’s six-year sea adventure.