Skeletons On The Zahara
Dean King
  • Published: 1 August 2005
  • ISBN: 9780099435921
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

Skeletons On The Zahara

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In the tradition of In the Heart of the Sea and A Perfect Storm, this historical thriller novel tells a gripping true story of survival in the 19th century Sahara desert. The ultimate shipwreck adventure story, that appeals to fans of Lost and Robinson Crusoe alike.

The western Sahara is a baking hot and desolate place, home only to nomads and their camels, and to locusts, snails and thorny scrub. On 28 August 1815 the US brig Commerce was dashed against Mauritania's Cape Bojador and lost, although through bravery and quick thinking the ship's captain, James Riley, managed to lead all of his crew to safety.

What followed was an extraordinary and desperate battle for survival in the face of human hostility, hunger, dehydration and despair, as the crew were captured, robbed and enslaved. They were reduced to drinking urine (their own and the camels'), flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning stones and sand. Over time James Riley and Sidi Hamet, slave and captor, came to recognise in each other men worthy of respect... Soon the ransom not only of Riley himself but also of a handful of his crew suddenly seemed possible. But Sidi Hamet had enemies of his own, and to reach safety the sailors had to overcome not only the desert but also the greed and anger of those who would keep them in captivity. Skeletons on the Zahara is a thrilling true story of shipwreck, adventure, and the limits of man.
  • Published: 1 August 2005
  • ISBN: 9780099435921
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

About the author

Dean King

Dean King is the author of numerous books, including a biography of Patrick O'Brian, and two non-fiction books, Skeletons of the Zahara and Unbound. He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and daughters.

Praise for Skeletons On The Zahara

Known for his biography of the elusive Patrick O'Brian...Dean King has emerged from the great man's shadow with a compelling work in his own right... Once ashore, King's narrative, like Riley's leadership, grows in stature and certaintly... As King notes, the understanding, respect and compassion between these representatives of the Christian and Muslim worlds offers a timely example in our own troubled age.

Sunday Times

Genuinely gripping, full of twists and turns of fate ... mesmerising ... The torturous journey, with parched tongues and aching bones, in constant fear of bandits who might capture and enslave them, is described in unsparing detail ... The game of bluff and double bluff kept the crewmen's lives on a knife-edge. If you want to know the ending, the Hollywood movie can't be too far behind.

Daily Mail

Dean King has brought to life one of the great, true-life adventure stories - a riveting tale of suffering and redemption

Nathaniel Philbrick
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