Penguin Books has published an excerpt from Martinique Stilwell’s coming of age memoir, Thinking Up a Hurricane.

The book tells the story of Stilwell’s unconventional childhood spent at sea with her family. In the following passage, the family makes an unplanned stop in Ecuador in search of bananas:

One night we went to take in the fishing lines. We had left it pretty late and in the darkness they felt strangely heavy, but without the tug of a fighting fish.

‘Feels like a plastic bag,’ Robert said.

The bag spat a jet of water at us, soaking our heads as we looked over the side, trying to figure out exactly what we had caught. A hefty pair of squid, taken on our lead-headed fishing lures.

‘Well I never,’ said Dad.

• Keep reading: Penguin Books

Book details

• Thinking Up a Hurricane by Martinique Stilwell
  EAN: 9780143530343
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