A hardcover memoir of one man, one boat, and the ocean between two homes.
"In the Middle of the Sea at the Dark of the Moon" is a book about the space between two fatherlands, two homes, two birthplaces. That space is the Atlantic Ocean. The author crossed it, in a small sailboat, alone.
The Voyage
The author recounts the sailing, the failed attempts, the people who prepared him for departure, and the people who received him at his destination. Singlehanded is how some would describe the voyage — true, only in the fact of how many people were in the boat, Falcarragh, as it crossed the Atlantic.
The Heart
The book is more about a man's search for his father, and his country, and his hopes for his infant grandchildren and theirs. In 2006, Joe Ferry sailed from Philadelphia, his birthplace, to Falcarragh, County Donegal — the birthplace of his father, Joe Ferry.
"Letters to grandchildren still in cradles, written under a moonless sky."
During the passage Joe wrote to Madeline Ferry and Keiran McPoyle. He logged the data of managing ship; he scribbled reflections; he photographed sunrises and sunsets. Years later, his children and grandchildren helped him assemble these bits into this book.