From the Publisher
Think of Mitch Albom as the Babe Ruth of popular literature, hitting the ball out of the park every time he’s at bat.” — Time
“Albom allows meaning, whether his own or the reader’s, to emerge with a quiet, confident grace.” — Publishers Weekly
“A fearless explorer of the wishful and magical.” — James McBride, author of The Color of Water
“Albom has the ability to make you cry in spite of yourself.” — Boston Globe
“Albom’s gift for plucking heartstrings and finding meaning in life, which has endeared him to millions, is on full display.” — Booklist
“He writes like a literary Spielberg: with great impact and emotion, and without being afraid of pathos.” — Brigitte (Germany)
“Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary.” — Cecilia Ahern , author of PS, I Love You
Cecelia Ahern
Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary.
James McBride
A fearless explorer of the wishful and magical.
Brigitte (Germany)
He writes like a literary Spielberg: with great impact and emotion, and without being afraid of pathos.
Time
Think of Mitch Albom as the Babe Ruth of popular literature, hitting the ball out of the park every time he’s at bat.
Boston Globe
Albom has the ability to make you cry in spite of yourself.
Booklist
Albom’s gift for plucking heartstrings and finding meaning in life, which has endeared him to millions, is on full display.
Time
Think of Mitch Albom as the Babe Ruth of popular literature, hitting the ball out of the park every time he’s at bat.
Booklist
Albom’s gift for plucking heartstrings and finding meaning in life, which has endeared him to millions, is on full display.
Library Journal
07/01/2021
Adrift for three days after a shipboard explosion and running low on food and water, nine people on a raft pull a floundering man on board, with one proclaiming, "Thank the Lord we found you." "I am the Lord," responds the rescued man, launching the mega-best-selling Albom's newest excursion into spiritual questions. The story is pieced together a year later from a notebook found on an empty raft that's drifted ashore on the island of Montserrat. With a one-million-copy first printing.
Kirkus Reviews
2021-08-18
An inspirational novel about a disaster and an answered prayer by the author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003).
What if you call out for the Lord and he actually appears before you? Days after billionaire Jason Lambert’s luxury yacht Galaxy suddenly sinks in the North Atlantic with many illustrious passengers aboard, a few survivors float in a life raft. Among them is Benji, a deckhand who narrates the ordeal in a notebook while they desperately hope for rescue. Lambert is a caricature of a greedy capitalist pig who thinks only of himself and his lost ship and mocks Benji as “scribble boy,” but the main character is a young stranger pulled out of the water. “Well, thank the Lord we found you,” a woman tells him. “I amthe Lord,” he whispers in reply. Imagine the others’ skepticism: If you’re not lying, then why won’t you save us? Why don’t you answer our prayers? I always answer people’s prayers, he replies, “but sometimes the answer is no.” Meanwhile, the ship’s disappearance is big news as searchers scour the vast ocean in vain. The lost survivors are surrounded by water and dying of thirst, “a grim reminder of how little the natural world cares for our plans.” Out of desperation, one person succumbs to temptation and drinks ocean water—always a bad mistake. Another becomes shark food. The Lord says that for him to help, everyone must accept him first, and Lambert, for one, is having none of it. The storyline and characters aren’t deep, but they’re still entertaining. A disaffected crew member might or might not have sunk the ship with limpet mines. And whether the raft’s occupants survive seems beside the point—does a higher power exist that may pluck believers like Benji safely from the sea? Or is faith a sucker’s bet? Lord knows.
Unanswerable questions wrapped inside a thought-provoking yarn.
