Ultramarine

Malcolm Lowry’s stunning debut novel about a young man’s introduction to life at sea among the hard-living crewmembers of a freighter bound for South Asia

In this moving, coming-of-age precursor to Under the Volcano , protagonist Dana Hilliot seeks absolution from his upper-class British upbringing. He escapes the bourgeois provincialism of his origins by setting out to sea as a messboy amid a crew of weathered, world-weary sailors. Lost somewhere between Singapore and Bombay, Hilliot has fled his oppressive life—and his first love—for a world that has no interest in his problems. Part Moby Dick , part A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , Malcolm Lowry’s debut novel draws on his own early experience at sea. The novel displays the flair for character and dazzling prose that distinguish Lowry as one of English literature’s greatest modern talents.