Books with title The Girl of the Sea of Cortez

A Penguin ClassicIn the two years after the 1939 publication of Steinbeck’s masterful The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck and his novel increasingly became the center of intense controversy and censorship. In search of a respite from the national stage, Steinbeck and his close friend, biologist Ed Ricketts, embarked on a month long marine specimen-collecting expedition in the Gulf of California, which resulted in their collaboration on the Sea of Cortez. In 1951, after Ricketts’ death, Steinbeck reissued his narrative portion of the work in memory of his friend and the inspiration for Cannery Row’s “Doc”. This exciting day-by-day account of their journey together is a rare blend of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure. This edition features an introduction by Richard Astro.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Peter Benchley’s fascination with the sea and its magnificent inhabitants inspired such classic novels as Jaws and The Deep, making him the preeminent author of ocean adventure and suspense. The Girl of the Sea of Cortez was his most heartfelt, cherished story of the relationship between man and the sea, both those that live in it and those who love it. On an island in the Gulf of California, an intrepid young woman named Paloma carries a special legacy from her father—a deep understanding of the sea and a sixth sense about the need to protect it. Every day, Paloma paddles her tiny boat into the ocean and anchors over a seamount—a submerged volcanic peak sixty feet underwater that is clustered with spectacular sea animals and a wondrous web of marine life. It is there that an astonishing event takes place, when on one of her dives Paloma is shadowed by a manta ray—an animal so large it blocks the sun. She develops an extraordinary relationship with this luminous, gentle creature, but instinctively knows its existence is a secret she must fiercely protect. Benchley’s novel paints a poignant picture of humanity’s precarious relationship with the ocean, which unfolds alongside a heartrending story of familial bonds, often revealing that the ignorance of man is far more dangerous than the sea. Full of beauty, danger, and adventure, The Girl of the Sea of Cortez is triumphant—a novel to fall in love with. Praise for The Girl of the Sea of Cortez “It’s hard not to compare Benchley’s tale . . . with Hemingway’s classic The Old Man and the Sea.”—The Christian Science Monitor “Charming.”—The New York Times Book Review “For a hot summer’s day, The Girl of the Sea of Cortez is the next best thing to looking through a clear face mask into blue water swimming with fish.”—United Press International

What if armed, hooded men tried in broad daylight to pull you from a sidewalk in Tucson into a black van and failed? What if a second attempt designed to load you into an ambulance after being shot with a tranquilizer dart intended for large animals also failed? What if you learned that both attempts had been ordered by the most vicious drug lord in Colombia, although you had never heard of him before?Young Mike Morales subsequently learns from an antinarcotics task force in Tucson that drug lord Hector Cortez is a distant relative who apparently wants to groom him as his successor. The task force asks Morales to allow himself to be kidnapped so that an electronic device implanted under his skin can pinpoint Cortez’s location in thick jungle.Nothing goes right, and Morales must not only fight for his own life in Colombia but must also save the beautiful nurse Maria Sanchez, who grows to love him and despise the elderly Cortez, whom she once adored. Filled with suspense, plot twists, witches, and a lasting curse connecting both Cortez and Morales to the conquistador Hernan Cortes and his rape of Mexico, The Sea of Cortez is a thriller with supernatural overtones wrapped within a love story and the tension between North and South America.

What if armed, hooded men tried in broad daylight to pull you from a sidewalk in Tucson into a black van and failed? What if a second attempt designed to load you into an ambulance after being shot with a tranquilizer dart intended for large animals also failed? What if you learned that both attempts had been ordered by the most vicious drug lord in Colombia, although you had never heard of him before? Young Mike Morales subsequently learns from an antinarcotics task force in Tucson that drug lord Hector Cortez is a distant relative who apparently wants to groom him as his successor. The task force asks Morales to allow himself to be kidnapped so that an electronic device implanted under his skin can pinpoint Cortez's location in thick jungle. Nothing goes right, and Morales must not only fight for his own life in Colombia but must also save the beautiful nurse Maria Sanchez, who grows to love him and despise the elderly Cortez, whom she once adored. Filled with suspense, plot twists, witches, and a lasting curse connecting both Cortez and Morales to the conquistador Hernan Cortes and his rape of Mexico, The Sea of Cortez is a thriller with supernatural overtones wrapped within a love story and the tension between North and South America.