Skeletons of the Zahara re-tells the story of an early 19th century shipwreck on the northeast coast of Africa. The American merchant ship Commerce runs aground, and the surviving crew ends up as slaves for various tribal groups on the west edge of the Saharan desert. No fun. Enduring starvation and thirst which evoked (in a strange parallel) the heights of Everest from Into Thin Air, the captain James Riley and a handful of his crew survive to be ransomed in Morocco.
The author, Dean King, built the story from the narrative published by Riley, combined with a shipmate’s account and historical research. The past doesn’t quite come alive, but the human scale is well balanced. This was a quick detour for me from my current major non-fiction book (more soon), and worth a few hours.
I did read an earlier work by Dean King, his biography of Patrick O’Brian, though I didn’t realize that until halfway through Zahara, when I saw the author photo/bio on the backflap. Guess I’ve now read both of his books, though he’s edited more and written for several magazines. I’ll keep an eye out.