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Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Family Ship” by Sonja Yoerg, February 23, 2021
Sonja Yoerg, the author of “The Family Ship” has written a memorable, heartfelt and thought-provoking novel. The genres for this novel are Domestic Fiction, Coming of Age, and Fiction. The timeline for this story is set around 1980 in Chesapeake Bay. I love the way Sonja Yoerg visually describes the setting of the ship that the children of the family spend much of their life on. The author describes her characters as confused, each having their own set of problems.
The Vergennes family is first introduced in this novel by the author, who shows us 4 year old Jude meeting his baby sister Verity for the first time. His father tells him that it will always be Jude’s responsibility to take care of his baby sister.
As time passes, the Vergennes family is quite large, and Verity is now the oldest daughter and child. On a real ship which is permanently grounded on the property, Verity ‘symbolically” becomes the captain, and the younger children have to respect, assume their positions and follow the rules. Jude has left the family, and Verity dreams of a very real possibility of going to college, if only her father would approve.
When tragedy occurs, it appears that Verity is needed to keep the family afloat. How will she ever achieve her dreams? I loved this emotionally charged, heart-breaking story, and highly recommend it to other readers.
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