Part lyrical love story, part naval adventure, and part modern morality tale, this epic new novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Winter’s Tale and Paris in the Present Tense showcases Mark Helprin’s powers as a master storyteller
Stephen Rensselaer, a Navy captain near the end of his career, is a man who speaks truth to power despite the consequences. So when he’s called upon to defend a politically doomed program involving the development of a new class of ship, he does not hesitate. The program will almost certainly be canceled after its first prototype, the Athena, patrol coastal ship 15, is finished, and he will then be assigned to command it, his place on the promotion list for admiral all but forgotten.
Rensselaer has the courage of conviction to carry on with a sense of purpose, though. While supervising the outfitting of the Athena in New Orleans, he meets a brilliant lawyer named Katy Desper, with whom he falls in love. Soon thereafter, he’s deployed to the Persian Gulf. However, while refueling and taking on provisions in Israel, he’s assigned a very different—and top secret—mission that will put his morality to the ultimate test.
As Rensselaer perseveres over the course of seven battles, a mutiny, and a court martial, Katy is the beacon that lights his way home. An enthralling new novel about the virtues of living by the laws of conscience and decency, The Oceans and the Stars takes readers on a heroic odyssey that is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Praise
“Helprin excels at creating three-dimensional characters, and Rensselaer is a man of high moral character driven by a deep sense of humanity with a Shakespearean reference always at the ready. Helprin masterfully blends adrenaline and heart while the plot pieces fall into place like tumblers in a lock. Military aficionados will appreciate detailed descriptions of weaponry and tactics, while lovers of exquisite prose will be captivated by Rensselaer’s profundity.”
—Booklist, *starred* review
“Helprin’s love letter to the old Navy and all the old virtues that it relied upon to protect our great country and give us peace and the opportunity for a good life . . . Throughout the novel, we learn that seemingly impossible acts of bravery and courage are possible and are remembered in the annals of eternity.”
—National Review
“A grand epic . . . every situation is thoroughly set up, providing technical how and emotional why, intellectual why, political why. No blind corners here, no unreliable narrators . . . Inspirational.”
—New York Journal of Books
“War, love, and the sea intermix in this novel of bravery and conscience . . . the action is terrific . . . Fans of war stories and nautical tales will enjoy this one.”
—Kirkus
“Mark Helprin’s brilliant, swiftly paced epic—a sea, war, and love story—is a moral statement for our time, taking its place in literary history alongside James Jones’ From Here to Eternity and Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead.”
—Quarterdeck Magazine
"Mark Helprin is the most compelling novelist in America today...a story of great heroism."
—Mike Pence, American Politician
