Holding Fast by Susan Cole

Release: October 19th, 2021
Format: Ebook
Publisher: White Bird Publications
Source: Suzy approved Book Tours
Find it at: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, TBD, Bookshop.org , Google Play

SUSAN’S FIRST BOOK HOLDING FAST: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss is the story of leaving everything behind to follow her husband’s lifelong dream of sailing away. Many people dream of escaping reality but few actually go.

Blond, blue-eyed, irreverent John bursts into Susan’s life in her twenties with a dream of sailing off. Susan dreams of settling down and doesn’t want to go. A three-year voyage with their young daughter profoundly changes their lives. A gripping adventure story and an inspirational memoir of finding our power in the unlikeliest of places.

About the Author:

Susan Cole has lived on or around sailboats for more than thirty years. In between sails, she earned a B.A. at Barnard College, an M.A. in Psychology at Columbia University, and for many years, ran a successful market research firm in New York.

Susan was born in Cleveland, Ohio. When John talked her into buying a romantic, leaky 1903 48-foot Fire Island ferryboat to live on, her unexpected life on the water began. Then, she persuaded him to buy a house, and hoped John’s sailing dreams would fade. When their daughter Kate was seven, they left Connecticut behind and sailed to the Caribbean.

Now, years later, John has passed away but Susan’s spirit of adventure lives on in New Orleans where she lives with her cat, Ollie. Kate has become a worldwide traveler who lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband and baby boy.

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Holding Fast Review:

“Holding Fast” is a moving memoir about family, adventure, and sailing and was a sweet read.

Firstly, I enjoyed the tale because of how the author wrote it. While the story is simply about the family’s ups and downs, the author made it feel larger than life. The author describes their love and voyage so beautifully. From the Bahamas to the Key West to Mexico, I loved the traveling aspect and how the author incorporated the characters’ turbulent emotions.

My heart went to the author because I loved how supportive the author was with following John to fulfill his dreams as a sailor. You can see how she starts to cement herself to the community to fulfill her dreams but has to let go of all that to follow Johns. Frankly, John also got on my nerves a few times. I felt he was entirely oblivious to Susan’s feelings as he left for the business trip in New York. However, as the story progressed, I did feel bad for him. Even some supporting characters, like Cliff, Emily, Vivienne, and Andre, were memorable.

The story also has various layers, like how she reminisces about her father or the varying emotions when she meets some people along the way. Some of the memorable moments of the story were when the author recollects trying to hold up the XL or when they prepare for Hurricane Mitch. I also felt like I learned a lot of nautical sailing terms, like the bowline and the cruising community.

Perhaps the only aspect I would have liked to read more about was if the author focused more on Kate’s feelings. Nevertheless, “Holding Fast” turned out to be a short yet intense memoir by the author.