Structure

The structure of the book is designed to maximise suspense and to shape the Baileys’ ordeal into a narrative that reads more like a novel than a straightforward nonfiction account. Rather than beginning with the background of Maurice and Maralyn’s lives, the author opens with the dramatic moment of catastrophe: the yacht struck by a whale and the couple forced to abandon ship. This immediate immersion into crisis establishes high stakes from the outset, confronting the reader with danger and uncertainty before any context is provided. The decision to begin with the wreck creates a frame in which the couple’s earlier choices are retroactively interpreted through the lens of disaster, inviting the reader to view their preparations as fatally flawed.

Following this opening, the narrative shifts backwards in time to recount the couple’s meeting, courtship, marriage, and eventual decision to leave Derby in pursuit...