Borrowed in Brooklyn

BPL · Book · 2025

A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck

Sophie Elmhirst

The electrifying true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea: a mind-blowing tale of obsession, survival, and partnership stretched to its limits. Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He's a loner, awkward and obsessive; she's charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream--as we all dream--of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away? Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Maurice began to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive on the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can't run away from themselves. Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage At Sea pairs adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable"-- A Marriage at Sea tells the true story of Maurice and Maralyn, an unlikely couple who abandon ordinary

Demand pressureDemand pressure: composite score across the 12 tracked branches — rewards low availability, branches all out, recent drops, and (when exposed) public hold counts. Higher = harder to get borough-wide.
1,230
Available
0/19
Branches all out
11/11
Public holdsPublic holds: BPL exposes 'people waiting' at the bib (record) level — one number per work for the entire 60+ branch BPL system, NOT just the 12 tracked branches. We capture the number when it's there. 'Not exposed' means BPL didn't expose it on this scrape — we never substitute zero for missing data.
239
Public holds: 239system-widePublic holds: BPL exposes 'people waiting' at the bib (record) level — one number per work for the entire 60+ branch BPL system, NOT just the 12 tracked branches. We capture the number when it's there. 'Not exposed' means BPL didn't expose it on this scrape — we never substitute zero for missing data.

ISBN 9780593854280

NYT Bestseller

Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction

Last appeared Jan 10, 2026
Weeks on list
3 weeks
Peak rank
#7
reached Jan 3, 2026
Last rank
#10
Jan 10, 2026

Also appeared on

Hardcover Nonfiction· 2w · #10

Source: NYT Best Sellers. List membership is national, not Brooklyn-specific.

Current availability across the 12 tracked branches

BranchAvailableTotalHolds
Bay Ridge021
Bedford011
Brooklyn Heights020
Bushwick011
Coney Island020
Crown Heights020
Flatbush030
Greenpoint011
Kings Highway020
Sunset Park010
Williamsburgh021
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7-day movement

No movement in the last 7 days.

Recent movement

No availability changes detected in the last 7 days.