Save Our Souls

“Pearl unfolds this tale with suspense…His telling is notable both for its uncanny parallels to the apocryphal Swiss Family Robinson story that predated it and because the real-life shipwreck of Captain Frederick Walker, his wife and their sons was more dire than Disney’s idyllic fantasy. Pearl renders clear connections to the fictional story while writing a real-life adventure full of deceit, villainy and murderous plotting…As grounded in the 19th century as it is, Pearl’s take on the story of the castaways of the Wandering Minstrel also feels apt for our present moment—more Lord of the Flies than Swiss Family Robinson.” — Los Angeles Times “Written with the compelling narrative and literary flair of a work of fiction.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune "Save Our Souls is a story, not a study. The distinction is vital. You get to know these people and their relationships with each other. You live and die with every near-rescue that isn’t. Most important, you keep turning the page.” — Boston Globe "I’m a sucker for Big Boat Books like David Grann’s The Wager and Erik Larson’s Dead Wake, so Matthew Pearl’s new work of narrative nonfiction is right up my slipway. In the winter of 1887, an entire family of five, their dog, and two dozen crew members disappeared when their shark fishing boat was blown off course by a storm near Hawaii. What follows is a much darker version of Swiss Family Robinson when the shipwreck survivors encounter a stranded psychopath." — Adam Morgan, Esquire "A staggering account of a family castaway on a deserted island and confronted by a mysterious man who first appears to be their salvation, before a more difficult truth emerges. Pearl works in the vein of David Grann and consistently produces first-rate nonfiction." — Literary Hub, "Most Anticipated Books of the Year" “[A] rousing history . . . . Pearl paces the account like a thriller . . . .This real-life Swiss Family Robinson will keep readers up all night.” — Publishers Weekly “This dramatic story of good and evil pits the power of teamwork and family against ruthless ambition and selfishness. An illuminating chronicle of perseverance and survival on a barren island, Save Our Souls brings history to life.” — Booklist “Pearl . . . takes readers on a rollicking adventure through the 19th-century Pacific with a page-turning historical true-crime narrative reminiscent of the works of David Grann or Nathaniel Philbrick.” — WBUR.org “A genuine Swiss Family Robinson adventure, but darker . . . . A realistic castaway account.” — Kirkus Reviews "Save Our Souls is part history, part murder mystery, part sea-going adventure—entirely captivating." — New York Journal of Books “You are a castaway on a coral atoll, and you find a Man Friday—only he turns out to be a convicted murderer—oh, what a story! Matthew Pearl tells it, this dark tale of the 1887 wreck of the Wandering Minstrel with flair and aplomb: transfixingly brilliant." — Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of Knowing What We Know