The drowning dream

"William Webber simply wants to set the record straight. At ninety-six he has a rare medical ailment, suffers a recurring watery nightmare, and knows a thing or two about history. After all, he was there for a bit of it himself."--Prelimimary p. "Back in 1920, the young Webber finds himself in a boys' own adventure story, far from home, on the trail of mystery and romance. The dangerous cut-throat world of pearling, a mad hermit in the mangroves, a voyage on a death boat - the stuff of a young man's dreams. But nothing is as it seems, and in the real world there are no simple answers, no untarnished heroes, and no neat endings."--Prelim. p. "Not just a ripping yarn, The Drowning Dream is an engaging novel about fathers, unfulfilled lives and culpability, memory and history."--Prelim. page.