Description: Could a monk in the middle ages really have sailed all the way to the New World in a hand-made boat? How could it cross the vast and terrifying North Atlantic when modern ice-breakers and steel-hulled vessels are still lost in storms and sunk by ice bergs? And what can one make of Brendan's seemingly impossible accounts of being chased by sea monsters and landing the boat on the back of a whale so large it appeared to be an island, and which only stirred when the monks built a fire on it?

Relying on the saint's medieval text, Severin painstakingly researches and builds a boat identical to the small leather curragh that carried Brendan on his epic voyage. He finds a centuries-old, family-run tannery where he buys the ox hides; he undertakes an exhaustive search for skilled saddlemakers (the only people who would know how to stitch the inch-think hides together); he locates one of the last pieces of Irish-grown timber tall enough and strong enough to make the mainsail. But his courage and resourcefulness is truly tested on the open seas, including one heart-pounding episode when he repairs a dangerous tear in the leather hull by hanging over the side -- his head frequently submerged under the freezing waves -- to restitch the leather with an awl and thread.

A perfect blend of high adventure and historical relevance which makes for a fantastic read.

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