East Grand Rapids Library patrons enjoyed an inspirational visit from the author!
2008 Michigan Notable Books Press Release:
John Otterbacher's
Sailing Grace"About Sailing Grace
Sailing Grace, released in both hardcover and softcover editions in July 2007, introduces herself this way:
After eight visits to surgery in eight months, ˜heart transplant” is working its way into conversations with John’s doctors.
John and Barbara are talking about going sailing instead.
Sailing Grace, narrated with present-tense immediacy, is John’s account of drowning in heart disease, fighting back to the surface, and sailing on. It begins with him flat on his back in a local health club, gasping for air. It ends thirty-one months and four thousand miles later when he, Barbara and their two youngest children maneuver their sailboat Grace into Schull Harbor, Ireland.
A gritty account of their family’s struggle to do better than simply survive, Sailing Grace is also a commentary on how love heals, dreams energize and trauma can be a wake-up call. From hospital ward to the stormy Atlantic, this hard-edge story will resonate with anyone who has confronted profound adversity, be it coronary disease, cancer, or the heavy weather that unexpectedly blows through every life.
About John
Since earning his doctorate in clinical psychology, John Otterbacher has taught college, served as a State Representative and Senator, worked as a psychotherapist, and taken some long sails with his family (sixteen months in 1989-90 and six years between 1998 and 2004), recently sailing across the ocean four times.
A longtime contributor to sailing magazines (Sailing, Cruising World and Yachting Monthly in England), John wrote Sailing Grace at his editor’s insistence.
John currently lives and writes in Michigan.
What others are saying
Most book reviewers don’t spend time and column space on new authors from midget presses. In spite of that, John, Barb and Sailing Grace are getting some very good coverage:
“Sailing Grace is a thoroughly engaging book. Wise people have known forever that life is a near death experience. The costumes of our lives can be suffocating, and Otterbacher and his family shed theirs going to sea. They win big and we win along with them by reading the engrossing and perilous adventure story they made of their lives.”
Jim Harrison, Author/poet
“John Otterbacher’s exquisite tale of one man’s journey into himself and of his family’s dramatic crossing of the Atlantic is a powerful elixir for anyone tiptoeing through life and settling for dreams deterred. Sailing Grace is absolutely terrific in it’s rendering of the sea, of man, and of our innate need to engage our soul and senses in ways both small and gargantuan. I wept at the conclusion.”
Tom Rademacher, Grand Rapids Press
“On the blue Atlantic and in bleak hospital words, John Otterbacher has weathered the sorts of storms that ultimately define a person… assuming they manage to survive. Otterbacher’s gifts were his family and friends, and the dream that sustained him. Ours is this book that, with humor and humility, tells his tale.”
Herb McCormack, Sail Magazine
“Anyone who appreciates the power of the ocean and the humility of putting to sea in a sailboat will understand John and Barbara’s choice to go to sea with his damaged heart. Anyone who doesn’t, will, after reading Sailing Grace. “
Elaine Lembo, Cruising World Magazine
“Once I started reading this book, I could not stop.”
Rich DeVos, Co-founder of Amway, International Yachtsman
“A love story in more ways than one. Facing the future without trepidation is one of life’s greatest gifts…. It leaves you limp, exhausted. If it doesn’t sell, there is no adventure left in literature.”
Judd Arnett, Detroit Free Press"
Visit the author's website for great information:http://web.mac.com/sailing_grace/iWeb/Sailing%20Grace/Author.html
