The Family Ship

A Novel

By: Sonja Yoerg

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan

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

A book to remember

I fell in love with every character. The children each had unique personalities and blended together to form a loving family. I can't say more without giving the story away. I was sorry to see this book end.

Family Dynamics

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

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.

Interesting story

Well written story about a very interesting family. Great character development. Hard to put down. I would love a sequel to find out what happens to the siblings, especially Verify and Jude.

Heartwarming but leaning sentimental excess

It was a charming story but for me there were several things that detracted from it. First, there was way too much “telling” rather than “showing” as in the basic rule of character writing, “show don’t tell,” and too much telling us the meaning of the events via the characters’ internal dialog. And without including a spoiler, the dad’s trajectory was highly unrealistic. There was another very unrealistic detail but I can’t mention it without revealing too much. Those criticisms aside, it was a good easy listen for a long drive and I mostly enjoyed it.

I also want to mention that the narrator did an excellent job of creating distinct voices for each of the many characters, which is not an easy thing to do, so I appreciated that.