A Narragansett Bay fisherman is obsessed with an unfinished 50-foot boat called SPARTINA. Determined to find the funds to buy her an engine, he takes a foolish risk. But his real test comes when he must weather a storm at sea in order to keep his dream alive. Moving and poetic, SPARTINA is a masterl...

A Narragansett Bay fisherman is obsessed with an unfinished 50-foot boat called SPARTINA. Determined to find the funds to buy her an engine, he takes a foolish risk. But his real test comes when he must weather a storm at sea in order to keep his dream alive. Moving and poetic, SPARTINA is a masterly story of one man's ongoing struggle to find his place in the world.

Winner of the 1989 National Book AwardA classic tale of a man, a boat, and a storm,Spartinais the lyrical and compassionate story of Dick Pierce, a commercial fisherman along the shores of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. A kind, sensitive, family man, he is also prone to irascible outbursts against the people he must work for, now that he can no longer make his living from the sea. Pierce's one great passion, a fifty-foot fishing boat called* Spartina *, lies unfinished in his back yard. Determined to get the funds he needs to buy her engine, he finds himself taking a foolish, dangerous risk. But his real test comes when he must weather a storm at sea in order to keep his dream alive. Moving and poetic, Spartina is a masterly story of one man's ongoing struggle to find his place in the world.