A wonderfully engaging true story of a childhood and adolescence spent on a boat on the east coast of America, BOAT GIRL by Melanie Neale paints a picture of an upbringing that I found myself envying.

At the early age of one she joins her parents on their boat, the 47 foot fibreglass sailboat the newly commissioned Chez Nous, as they sail the Chesapeake, and by the time she is four they have arranged to live on the boat permanently. She, her two year old sister and her parents will spend summers in Virginia and winters in the Bahamas, home schooling the children and living off the money their father has earned as a lawyer.

Their childhood sounds blissful, swimming in the Bahamas, spearing their own fish for meals (while watching for sharks!), spending days playing with other boat children on the beach. Life is of course not always idyllic, there are the usual problems of growing up; learning about boys, worrying about her weight, getting the school work done and all in the confines of a 47' boat, albeit with your own giant swimming pool to cool off in! She also describes her early adulthood where she is always determined to have a boat to sail in, or ideally live in!

BOAT GIRL ends when she marries and has a daughter, who she is determined to give as much of the joys of her own upbringing as she can, an ambition I can only wish her all the very best with. BOAT GIRL is a first rate read.