The combination of sailing narrative, Lear biography, and travel journal is hard to resist. If you have cruised the Med, are (or even are not) a sailor, or simply enjoy well-written prose describing some of the most beautiful places on the planet and the life of a most interesting man, then you're in for a treat.
Readers whose palates crave a Grand Tour of history, culture, art and literature while passing through the French waterways and into Mediterranean ports on a well-found yacht with pronounced shear and a well-read captain will appreciate this book.
Maldwin Drummond is a sailor and a farmer who got an idea. He cruised under sail with the specific goal of following in the wake of artist and nonsense poetry writer Edward Lear (1812-1888). The result is After You Mr. Lear: In the Wake of Edward Lear in Italy which relates Maldwin Drummond's nautical and land-based adventures as a result of his unusual quest. Profusely illustrated with cartoons, paintings, photos and maps, After You Mr. Lear is an intrinsically interested account of a modern-day cruise which was embarked upon a voyage of discovery to the appreciation of armchair travelers and land-bound sailors. Drummond's deftly written accounts of leaving from the Isle of Wight aboard his yacht Gang Warily and crossing the English Channel, then navigating the rivers and canals of France all the way to the Mediterranean, then sailing down the coast of Italy and Calabria, will hold the reader's rapt attention from first page to last. After You Mr. Lear is a highly recommended addition to personal reading lists and community library collections.
The combination of sailing narrative, Lear biography, and travel journal is hard to resist. If you have cruised the Med, are (or even are not) a sailor, or simply enjoy well-written prose describing some of the most beautiful places on the planet and the life of a most interesting man, then you're in for a treat.
