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Sonnie-Boy's People

First published: 1913
Pages: 226

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About this book

Nine stories make up this 1913 collection from Charles Scribner's Sons, gathering tales of engineers, fishermen, and hard-handed seafaring men whose work carries them across salt water. The opening piece follows Greg Welkie, a young government engineer building coastal fortifications in the Caribbean, who turns down a fortune and a life of ease to stay faithful to his post. The other tales range from Gloucester fishing runs and anchor-watch yarns to a wartime battle-cruise, each drawn from Connolly's firsthand knowledge of boats and the crews who sail them. He wrote from experience rather than romance, and Joseph Conrad praised him as the best sea-story writer in America. Readers who like plain, weather-beaten fiction about duty, danger, and life on the water will find real substance here.

About the author

James B. Connolly

James Brendan Connolly (1868–1957) was a South Boston writer and athlete of Irish Catholic stock who became the first champion of the modern Olympic Games, winning the triple jump at Athens in 1896. He left Harvard to compete, later served in the Spanish-American War, and then built a long career writing about the sea.