David Vann has loved boats all his life. So when his academic career seems to be stuck in the doldrums, he leaps at the opportunity to start an educational charter business, teaching creative writing workshops aboard a sailboat. But a trip to Turkey sees him dreaming bigger - and before he knows it, he is at the helm of his own ninety-foot boat, running charters along the Turkish coast.

And here his troubles begin. Sinking deep into debt, and encountering everything from a lost rudder to freak storms, Vann is on the verge of losing everything - including his life.

Part high-seas adventure, part journey of self-discovery, A Mile Down is a gripping and unforgettable story of struggle and redemption by a writer at the top of his game.

David Vann is an internationally bestselling author published in nineteen languages. He is the winner of fifteen prizes and his books have appeared on seventy Best Books lists in a dozen countries. He is a professor at the University of Warwick in England and lives in New Zealand half of the year.

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'David Vann has created a tale of hubris and endurance that is both exciting and beautifully written.' Keith Scribner

'A Mile Down would be a cautionary tale for anyone who dreams of the freedom of the high seas - if only it wasn't so damn exciting...' Stewart O'Nan, author of Songs for the Missing

'At once memoir, confession, travel book and thriller, David Vann's A Mile Down is so vivid and intense you will dread to see it end...The book is a testimony of passion and courage in deadly storms and scarier calms, of a man wrestling with his ghosts and gifts in the very shadow of paradise.' Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek