Spindrift is the story of a young man gone East, against the grain of the American ethos. Disillusioned and deracinated by his life on Wall Street and the ersatz Americana of the 1980s, Guy Sherborne abandons his job as a Manhattan stockbroker to work as a lobster cook on Nantucket.
Cruising the island on his motorcycle, Guy explores the beaches, bars, and magical corners of Nantucket with his hard-drinking roommate Larry, the homeless troubadour Dave, and his vivacious girlfriend Tammy, whose love he squanders and tries to win back in the promiscuous atmosphere of the island's summer culture.
Intellectual and sexy, Sheppard's narrative challenges us to look hard at the American definition of success, breathing life back into questions we must first resolve before we can turn ourselves around and set out West, like Guy, in our quest for an authentic sense of being.
"Ah, Monday in Nantucket. Perhaps the wind will blow away the tourists. Perhaps the shops will close and people will run rejoicing into the street: naked, laughing, clasping. Perhaps the boats will form a flotilla and sail for the golden horizon. Perhaps the shutters will fly off the buildings and all the great literature in the library will fly through the windows. Perhaps the rats and the cockroaches will jump off the pier in holy suicide, chanting, "Our work is done here." Perhaps the breeze will carry all the garbage into the barrels, then lift them into the sky to float like star buoys. Perhaps the traffic will stop and people will carry each other on their backs. Perhaps the sun will not rise any higher than right now, and it will remain morning . . . ."
Review: "Spindrift is an impressive and forceful literary debut. Sheppard reveals the intricacies and intimacies of a young man's quest to leave the corporate life for the examined life, with a vitality and love for the English language rarely achieved in contemporary literary efforts."
-M.W. Bell
"Spindrift is a true Nantucket idyll, a great beach read or book to take on the ferry, and also serves as an insider's guide to the island. Stuart Sheppard's wistful, hedonistic hero reminds me of those early Kerouac figures, opting out of the high-stakes rat race to find a richer life in wine, women, and the natural world."
-Stuart O'Nan, author of Wish You Were Here, A World Away, The Speed Queen and A Prayer for the Dying
Bio: STUART SHEPPARD grew up in Pittsburgh, graduated from Kenyon College, and currently lives in Boston. Spindrift is his first novel.
