The Family Ship

A Novel

By: Sonja Yoerg

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes a disarming and emotional novel about a family in distress and a daughter’s mission to keep it from going under.

Chesapeake Bay, 1980. Eighteen-year-old Verity Vergennes is the captain of the USS Nepenthe, and her seven younger siblings are her crew. The ship - an oyster boat transformed into a make-believe destroyer - is the heart of the Vergennes family, a place both to play and to learn responsibility. But Verity’s had it with being tied to the ship and secretly applies to a distant college. If only her parents could bear to let her go. 

Maeve and Arthur Vergennes already suffered one loss when, five years earlier, their eldest son, Jude, stormed out and never returned. Now Maeve is pregnant again and something’s amiss. Verity yearns to follow her dreams, but how can she jump ship now? The problem, and perhaps the answer, lies with Jude.

When disaster strikes and the family unravels, Verity must rally her sibling crew to keep the Nepenthe and all it symbolizes afloat. Sailing away from home, she discovers, is never easy - not if you ever hope to find your way back.

©2021 by Sonja Yoerg. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“This richly-drawn and insightful story demonstrates an exceptionally deep understanding of family relationships.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Families, like ships at sea, sometimes founder on hidden rocks and begin to break apart. Which is exactly what happens to the Vergennes family in Sonja Yoerg’s luminous The Family Ship. Only a heart of stone would be immune to the charm of the Vergennes children, all nine of them. Yoerg offers this large, disparate crew to the reader with the wisdom and compassion of a consummate storyteller. And she tops off the tale with one of the most exciting finales I’ve read in years. I recommend this book with my whole heart.”—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land

“With both wit and wonder, Sonja Yoerg navigates The Family Ship through choppy waters. This novel is completely immersive and highlights the enduring power of story in both our lives and our families. Yoerg’s prose and imagination are the strong currents that bring this fabulous tale to life.”—Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis

Wonderful!

It started a little slow, but as things picked up and the depth and personalities of the characters started to come through, I was hooked. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Family Dynamics

Loved the family involvement with the children and the way life twists and turns. Beautiful family story and enjoyed the new twists.

well done !

very well written! a story of family and their dynamics, with interesting twists.
narrator good job!

Enjoyed Listening

This book starts off quite slow but really picks up at the middle end. The author did a good job of weaving each of the characters together. It is a story about a large family and how each person contributes to the dynamics of their family life. I found myself cheering for the good times, feeling sorrow for their trials, and silently urging them on as they struggled. Kudos to Yoerg for a well written novel.

Excellent!

What a story! There were so many kids it was hard to keep track, but worth it. This one will stick with me, I’m sure. Now I will look for more from this author.

Depressing

Very original, but not a whole lot to feel good about. I still gave it 5 stars because the author is talented and can tell a good story, I just kept dreading going back to it. I would not read it again. I read to get away from the problems of the world, not deep dive into them. Narrator was great.

Wonderful, heart-breaking and heart-warming

This started out a bit slowly, but as the characters developed and became more complex, it became more engaging. Heartbreaking one minute, and heartwarming the next. All in all, a great story about a family's love and dedication to one another.

Trite, juvenile, not worth my time

The story might be slightly interesting to a preteen, but no adult would want to spend time with this simple, an interesting and poorly read book. I read it because of the positive reviews, but none of the positive reviews were my experience.

Very engaging story of a large family and all its joys and trials.

Loved the narrator,engaging. Storyline kept me interested and wanting to read more on how people interact with each other and overcome and deal with life’s challenges, trials, and relationships. Highly recommend. Will read again.

Superb!

Such a good listen. Detailed, emotional. Must be an amalgam of many “regular” families. Heartwarming and heartbreaking throughout. So so wonderful.