Fourteen: A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival

by Leslie Johansen Nack

Overview

Winner of 5 independent book awards, including NIEA, Next Generation Indie, Independent Press Award, Beverly Hills Book Awards and Readers’ Favorites
After her mother and father divorce at age seven, Leslie quickly learns the hard lessons of being Dad's favorite. The abuse begins at age nine and doesn't end until she begins to fight back, finally, at age fourteen. Her father, a larger-than-life Norwegian, assumed full custody of Leslie and her two sisters and moved the family from their 63-acre rustic ranch in Northern California to a 45-foot sailboat in Southern California. The family spent two years living aboard their boat preparing for the trip of their father's dreams: a trip around the world. On February 5, 1975, the family set sail for French Polynesia. Intense and inspiring, Fourteen is a coming-of-age adventure story about a young girl who comes into her own power, fights back against abuse, becomes an accomplished sailor, and falls in love with the ocean and the natural world. The outer voyage is a mirror of her inner journey, and her goal is to find the strength to endure in a dangerous world, and within a difficult family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631529412
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	10/20/2015
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Leslie Johansen Nack graduated UCLA with a BA in English literature. She is a member of the National Association of Memoir Writers and San Diego Writers Ink and lives in San Diego. She is the author of Fourteen: A Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival, (She Writes Press, Oct 2015) which has won five indie book awards including 2016 Winner of the NIEA for YA Non-Fiction; 2016 Winner of Bronze at Readers' Favorites in Non-Fiction Travel; 2016 Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Memoir; 2016 Winner of the Memoir category of the Beverly Hills Book Awards and the 2017 Independent Press Award for Memoir. For more information go to www.lesliejohansennack.com

Editorial Reviews

2017 Independent Press Awards Winner in Memoir 2016 Beverly Hills Book Awards Winner in Memoir 2016 Indie Excellence Winner in Young Adult Non-Fiction 2016 Readers' Favorite Awards Bronze Winner in Non-fiction: Travel 2016 Next Gen Indie Awards Finalist in Memoirs (Overcoming Adversity/Tragedy/Challenges) "A debut memoir reveals a turbulent adolescence. At first glance, the voyage of Bjorn Johansen and his three daughters from San Diego to the islands of Tahiti in 1975 … has all the makings of a standard adventure story. In keeping with the tone of the project as a whole, [the] ending, while somewhat abrupt, is powerful and inspiring. Perhaps the only quibble is that Nack leaves readers wanting more. An engaging account, gripping from start to finish, that should appeal to a wide audience, including sailing enthusiasts."
—Kirkus Reviews

“The raw and emotional debut novel by Leslie Johansen Nack has it all: mid-Pacific monster storms, emergencies at sea, a young female heroine, sex and drugs all while exploring the world on a 45-foot custom-built sailboat. All of this intrigue combines to tell the incredible true story of a young teenaged girl, as told by the author, her two sisters and their father, as they untangle the daily web of incredibly wondrous and equally appalling experiences while sailing from Oceanside, San Diego, to the Marquesas, Tuamotu and Society islands. Full of conflict and secrets, adventure and survival, this page-turner is as good as it gets and will be passed on to passionate sailors for decades to come."
—Pacific Yachting Magazine

“Fourteen is the riveting story of a girl and her sisters coming of age and struggling to survive staggering odds as her father pursues his dream of sailing his own boat to Tahiti. This book totally captures the intrigue and romance of arriving under sail in the South Pacific during the mid-’70s.”
—John Neal, Offshore Cruising Companion and author of Log of the Mahina

“Fourteen is the poignant and gripping coming-of-age story of Leslie Johansen Nack, a smart, strong girl who sails to Tahiti with her two sisters and predatory father in 1975. With him as captain of their 45’ boat, Nack’s life depends upon him . . . until he falls ill. The skills and confidence Nack gains from sailing, combined with her indomitable will, help Nack fight back against her father’s abuse—and might even help her save his life. In candid, clear, even-handed prose, Leslie Johansen Nack’s Fourteen is an important book, one that takes us on a lush journey to distant lands and through the complexities and resilience of the human spirit.”
—Janna Cawrse Esarey, author of The Motion of the Ocean

“Fourteen is a simply beautiful tale of wild bravery.”
—San Gabriel Valley Tribune

“As the story unfolds, you find yourself simultaneously holding your breath for the next episode of her dad’s strange behavior, and cheering for Leslie’s growing strength in dealing with it. She not only survives, she shows an amazing strength in dealing with situations that would overwhelm many adults, let alone fourteen-year-olds. I found the book gripping.”
—Carolyn Shearlock, The Boat Galley.Com

“Despite a dysfunctional family life, 14-year-old Leslie Johansen learns to stand up to her father’s abuse and becomes an accomplished sailor. This true adventure about sailing the South Pacifi c is an uplifting testament to the strength of a young teen. —The Ensign

“Nack’s interest in sailing is not superficial. She has a respect for the ocean that her father teaches her; this is one of the reasons she is so close to him. But she knows she has much more to learn. She battles the standard teenage demons of boys and school, but her unconventional home life is a fascinating tale. Set against the background of life with a floating home, the teenage angst is not the focus of the story. [Fourteen] is not just a sailing story, nor is it a coming of age tale, but a splendid mix of the two.”
—Sailing Magazine

From the Publisher

2017-10-26
A debut memoir reveals a turbulent adolescence.At first glance, the voyage of Bjorn Johansen and his three daughters from San Diego to the islands of Tahiti in 1975 aboard the Aegir (Norwegian for "lord of the stormy seas") has all the makings of a standard adventure story. But there is much more beneath the surface that sets this stirring book apart from other renderings of the challenges of adolescence. Nack is the middle daughter, who turned 14 years old right before they set sail, and she cleverly provides a definition of "navigation" in the opening pages because it serves as one of the text's central metaphors. Her mother, often absent from the action here, struggled with mental illness and substance abuse. The author's early characterization of her father as "volatile and demanding" is an understatement, as he turns out to be physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive. Thus the inclusion of "Survival" in the subtitle acquires another layer of meaning. In a breathtaking scene, Nack bravely defies her father's orders and confronts him about the sexual abuse. She writes: "We'd been at sea seventeen days. He was like a lion crouching low, studying his prey. The gazelles eventually get worn down. They cannot be on high alert every moment of the day. Nobody can. I was tired of being scared." After a series of cultural encounters and harrowing events once they reach their destination, the return voyage involves a different boat and crew. Although the riveting book ends before they make landfall, it is an appropriate moment to reflect on what has happened up to this point. The exhausted crew has just emerged intact from a ferocious two-day storm, which required lots of concerted effort and skilled maneuvering. They're not there yet, but they are getting close. In keeping with the tone of the project as a whole, this ending, while somewhat abrupt, is powerful and inspiring. Perhaps the only quibble is that Nack leaves readers wanting more.An engaging account, gripping from start to finish, that should appeal to a wide audience, including sailing enthusiasts.

Kirkus Reviews