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The Independent
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Journalist Sophie Elmhirst wins book of the year at Nero Book Awards
A book that retells the true story of a couple who were shipwrecked in the 1970s and lived on a life raft for 118 days has won a prestigious £30,000 book prize. The book, Maurice And Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story Of Shipwreck, Survival And Love, written by journalist Sophie Elmhirst, has been named book of the year at the annual Nero Book Awards. The Guardian long-reads journalist took home the overall winning title along with the prize money for her debut book, which recounts the couple's story which saw them stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after their boat was struck by a whale. The award comes after Elmhirst won the Nero best non-fiction category in January along with a £5,000 prize. Elmhirst was announced the winner on Wednesday evening at a ceremony in central London by renowned journalist and bestselling author Bill Bryson. Moments after receiving the award, Elmhirst said she was 'stunned' and 'blown away'. She said: 'It was not what I expected at all. I was delighted just to be here this evening as one of the category winners. 'When I heard my name, it took me a minute to realise it was me.' Speaking to the PA news agency, Elmhirst said she came by the story 'by chance' and was captivated by both the relationship between the couple and the adventure. She said: 'I knew that there was something there. It was an extraordinary adventure that they had. 'But there was also this really indelible sort of captivating relationship between the two of them and I just sort of knew that somehow the combination of two things would make, I hoped, an interesting book.' Used to being on the reporting side of an interview, Elmhirst described the 'huge change' and 'different process' it was to write as an author compared to her work as a journalist as she relied on diaries, letters and the people who survived Maurice And Maralyn including their friends, relations, next-door neighbours and people who worked at the Cafe Maurice they frequented to help bring them to life. Bryson, who chaired the judging panel, said: 'Maurice And Maralyn is an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit. 'Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story. 'It is a story of a marriage as much as of an adventure at sea, one that subtly explores the dynamics of a relationship under the greatest imaginable stress. 'Shining through is the heroine's courage and fortitude; as Maurice flounders, it is Maralyn's strength that allows them to survive at sea for 118 days, the book is a tribute to Maralyn's grit. 'Sophie Elmhirst's writing is understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources.' Bryson said it was a unanimous choice, describing the non-fiction book as a piece of work that 'reaches the highest literary eminence'. He added: 'It's really well written in a kind of wonderfully low-key way. 'She wasn't showing off and using lots of sort of lyrical language. 'She was really, really well constructed. 'But it was also the story. 'It was just unputdownable, and I thought what she did that I would never have been able to do if I tried to do the same book myself is she really made the reader feel as if you were there, right there with them, just kind of looking over their shoulders. 'They went through this really horrific experience and that is a real gift to be able to do that, to make you feel as if you're right there. 'And I just, I couldn't put the book down, and it was the one book that I really didn't want to get up from my chair and go off and do anything else. 'I just wanted to keep reading it all the time.' Bryson described how the female character in the book, Maralyn, was the 'real dynamo' in the couple and that her strength and ability to hold them together and take them to safety stood out to the judges. He said: 'She was the real dynamo of the arrangement and yet in reality she was kind of overlooked. 'When the press, when they landed, she was often excluded from photographs and wasn't interviewed and she was just treated as this kind of little help mate that had gone along for the ride, whereas actually she was really the core of the whole thing. 'And again, I think the book captured that really, really well.' Among notable names on the judging panel were Girl, Woman, Other author Bernardine Evaristo and former BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis. The narrative non-fiction book retells the forgotten story of a couple in Derby who decided to sell their house, build a boat and set sail to New Zealand until halfway across the world their boat is struck by a whale. The couple are cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean, with the book retelling how they managed to survive on a small lifeboat while also saving their marriage. The prize ceremony follows the Nero category awards that took place in January for best non-fiction, fiction, debut fiction and children's winner. Maurice And Maralyn claimed the category for best non-fiction while Wild Houses by Colin Barrett won debut fiction. Adam S Leslie's Lost In The Garden took home best fiction, while Liz Hyder won children's winner for her book The Twelve. The category winners were all in the running for the top prize, which Elmhirst took home. Maurice And Maralyn is Elmhirst's first book following a successful career in journalism having received the British Press Award in 2020 for feature writer of the year as well as being shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2024. The Nero Book Awards celebrates outstanding books and writers of the last 12 months and is open to writers based in the UK and Ireland.
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Real-life shipwreck story by Sophie Elmhirst wins top prize at Nero Book Awards
The true story of a British couple who spent four months adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean, after their boat was sunk by a whale, has been named the best book of last year at a prestigious and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love, by Sophie Elmhirst, won the £30,000 Gold Prize at the Nero Book Awards, on tells the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, who sold their Derbyshire bungalow to build a boat and set sail for New Zealand, in 1972, but had to survive at sea for 118 days after it Bill Bryson, who chaired the judges, called it "an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit". Small sharks The Baileys set off in search of adventure in 1972 but struck disaster the following year, en route to the Galapagos the whale cracked a hole in their boat's hull, they had time to deploy their 4ft (1.2m) life raft and rescue a small amount of crafted a fishing line, using a safety pin from a first-aid kit and a piece of string, and survived on raw fish, turtles and small also invented card and word games and made dominoes out of scraps of paper, to keep their minds occupied. Elmhirst, a journalist, came across the Baileys on a website dedicated to castaway stories, and set about researching their journey using Maralyn's diary and books Maurice published after their book won the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction category in January and has now won the overall Gold Prize for Book of the Year 2024. 'Unfolding drama' Bryson said: "Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story."It is a story of a marriage as much as of an adventure at sea, one that subtly explores the dynamics of a relationship under the greatest imaginable stress."Elmhirst's writing was "understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources", he other judges were novelist Bernardine Evaristo and journalist Emily Maitlis."We unanimously agreed that Maurice and Maralyn is a non-fiction work that reaches the highest literary eminence," Bryson Nero Book Awards were previously known as the Costa Book Awards. The Nero Book Awards winners:Gold Prize and Non-Fiction: Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love, by Sophie ElmhirstFiction: Lost in the Garden, by Adam S LeslieDebut Fiction: Wild Houses, by Colin BarrettChildren's Fiction: The Twelve, by Liz Hyder
The Guardian
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sophie Elmhirst's Maurice and Maralyn wins Nero book of the year prize
A book by a Guardian long read writer about the true story of a couple who were lost at sea for 118 days in the 70s after their boat was struck by a whale has won the Nero Gold prize. Sophie Elmhirst was presented with the £30,000 award for her book Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love at a ceremony in London on Wednesday evening. The book 'is an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit', said judging chair Bill Bryson. 'Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story.' Maurice and Maralyn was revealed as the overall book of the year after winning the nonfiction category of the awards in January. It was chosen for the Gold prize over Lost in the Garden by Adam S Leslie, which won the fiction category; Wild Houses by Colin Barrett, which won the debut fiction category; and The Twelve by Liz Hyder, illustrated by Tom de Freston, which won the children's fiction category. Each of the four category winners received £5,000. This year marks the second iteration of the Nero prizes, which were launched after Costa Coffee abruptly ended its book awards in 2022. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray was chosen as the inaugural Gold prize winner. Maurice and Maralyn tells the story of a couple who, bored with suburban life in Derby, decide to sell their house, build a boat and set sail for New Zealand. However, 250 miles north of Ecuador, a sperm whale smashes into the boat, and they are cast adrift for nearly four months in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat. Elmhirst marshals their story into an 'electrifying narrative full of atmosphere and humanity and with the lightest dusting of romance,' wrote Fiona Sturges in a Guardian review of the book. 'Maurice and Maralyn is about a shipwreck, yes, but it's also a tender portrait of two unconventional souls blithely defying the conventions of their era and making a break for freedom.' As well as being a story about survival at sea and physical endurance, the book chronicles a marriage under immense stress. 'For what else is a marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive?', Elmhirst writes. 'Shining through is the heroine's courage and fortitude', said Bryson. 'As Maurice flounders, it is Maralyn's strength that allows them to survive at sea', adding that the book 'is a tribute to Maralyn's grit'. Researching the book, Elmhirst studied the diaries Maralyn wrote on the raft, interviews with the couple after their rescue and the memoirs they wrote. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Elmhirst is a journalist who regularly writes for the Guardian long read and other publications including the Economist's 1843 magazine and the New Yorker. Maurice and Maralyn is her first book. She described winning the Nero nonfiction category award as like 'being given a lovely confidence transfusion'. Alongside Bryson, the Gold prize judging panel included Booker-winning author and Royal Society of Literature president Bernardine Evaristo and journalist Emily Maitlis. 'Elmhirst's writing is understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources,' said Bryson. 'We unanimously agreed that Maurice and Maralyn is a nonfiction work that reaches the highest literary eminence'. Wednesday's ceremony also saw the announcement of a new award, the Nero new writers prize, to be run in association with Brunel University. Unpublished writers will be invited to submit 5,000 words of original adult fiction, children's fiction or creative nonfiction, with the winner receiving a cash prize, a scholarship to study for an MA in creative writing at Brunel and an introductory meeting with a literary agent. Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst is published by Vintage (£10.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
