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A book by a Guardian long read writer about the true story of a couple who were lost at sea for 118 days in the 70s after their boat was struck by a whale has won the Nero Gold prize.
Sophie Elmhirst was presented with the £30,000 award for her book Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love at a ceremony in London on Wednesday evening.
The book “is an enthralling, engrossing story of survival and the resilience of the human spirit”, said judging chair Bill Bryson. “Impressively novelistic in its narrative approach, it is a gripping retelling of a true but forgotten story.”
Maurice and Maralyn was revealed as the overall book of the year after winning the nonfiction category of the awards in January. It was chosen for the Gold prize over Lost in the Garden by Adam S Leslie, which won the fiction category; Wild Houses by Colin Barrett, which won the debut fiction category; and The Twelve by Liz Hyder, illustrated by Tom de Freston, which won the children’s fiction category. Each of the four category winners received £5,000.
This year marks the second iteration of the Nero prizes, which were launched after Costa Coffee abruptly ended its book awards in 2022. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray was chosen as the inaugural Gold prize winner.
Maurice and Maralyn tells the story of a couple who, bored with suburban life in Derby, decide to sell their house, build a boat and set sail for New Zealand. However, 250 miles north of Ecuador, a sperm whale smashes into the boat, and they are cast adrift for nearly four months in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat.
Elmhirst marshals their story into an “electrifying narrative full of atmosphere and humanity and with the lightest dusting of romance,” wrote Fiona Sturges in a Guardian review of the book. “Maurice and Maralyn is about a shipwreck, yes, but it’s also a tender portrait of two unconventional souls blithely defying the conventions of their era and making a break for freedom.”
As well as being a story about survival at sea and physical endurance, the book chronicles a marriage under immense stress. “For what else is a marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive?”, Elmhirst writes.
“Shining through is the heroine’s courage and fortitude”, said Bryson. “As Maurice flounders, it is Maralyn’s strength that allows them to survive at sea”, adding that the book “is a tribute to Maralyn’s grit”. Researching the book, Elmhirst studied the diaries Maralyn wrote on the raft, interviews with the couple after their rescue and the memoirs they wrote.
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Elmhirst is a journalist who regularly writes for the Guardian long read and other publications including the Economist’s 1843 magazine and the New Yorker. Maurice and Maralyn is her first book. She described winning the Nero nonfiction category award as like “being given a lovely confidence transfusion”.
Alongside Bryson, the Gold prize judging panel included Booker-winning author and Royal Society of Literature president Bernardine Evaristo and journalist Emily Maitlis.
“Elmhirst’s writing is understated but powerful, immersing the reader intimately in the unfolding drama and the horror of struggling to survive against the odds with very few resources,” said Bryson. “We unanimously agreed that Maurice and Maralyn is a nonfiction work that reaches the highest literary eminence”.
Wednesday’s ceremony also saw the announcement of a new award, the Nero new writers prize, to be run in association with Brunel University. Unpublished writers will be invited to submit 5,000 words of original adult fiction, children’s fiction or creative nonfiction, with the winner receiving a cash prize, a scholarship to study for an MA in creative writing at Brunel and an introductory meeting with a literary agent.
