OCEANS FREE

This voluminous, sprawling, leisurely book tells the story of Big Jon Ramsfy's adventures as a common sailor and eventually a captain and ship owner. It is an old-fashioned novel full of old-fashioned sentiment, as well as plenty of robust action. The period covered is from the 1880's and the last of the Norwegian windjammers into the first decade of the 20th century and the age of steam shipping. The story travels from Oslo to Africa, Australia, the goldrush in the Klondike, South America, and the pirate-infested China Seas- and of course often to Boston where Ramsfy's affections are anchored. Naturally there are many villains and many plots against Big Jon, and only after he loses Marjorie, whom he loves, for a time, does he regain her as a pretty young widow... A book for the simple in heart, or the strongly nostalgic, and the translation is a happy compromise- retaining the quality of the original Norwegian without sacrificing readability for an American audience.