Man Overboard!
A Novel
Will be published approx. on 7. July 2026
208 pages
E-Book
978-1-6682-1240-0 (ISBN)
Description
"Unexpected and heartwarming." ?The New York Times, Summer's Best Beach Reads
"Funny, sad, playful, and, by the end, simply resonant." ?Daniel Kraus, Pulitzer Prize?winning author of Whalefall and Angel Down
From the nationally bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, comes a funny and moving novel in which a former college swimmer falls off a cruise ship and must keep treading water as memories and regrets wash over him?perfect for fans of Where'd You Go, Bernadette; Florence Adler Swims Forever; and The Wedding People.
"Man Overboard! is destined to be the best book of the summer." ?Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The View from Lake Como
Patrick ?Kick? Kilpatrick hates the ocean. Has always been terrified of it. And now he's in a real pickle.
Drifting alone in the sea after falling (or jumping? He can't remember as the all-inclusive drinks on the cruise he was taking with his extended family were, well, inclusive) Kick must survive. Breath by breath, hour by hour in the lonely sea.
As the waves crash over him, so too do the thoughts and memories of just how he got there. A Thanksgiving cruise with an obnoxious brother-in-law he has to bite his tongue to keep from screaming at. A father who gives the Great Santini a run for his money. And a mother who already left the family boat, so to speak, a long time ago. His family may be complicated, and the pains of life may seem unbearable?infuriating enough to leap from the deck?but maybe the will to survive is stronger.
Man Overboard! is an inventive, slyly hilarious, and inspiring novel about what it means to be alive and stay alive, and what keeps us going no matter how choppy the waves of our journey become. Hold on for dear life!
"Funny, sad, playful, and, by the end, simply resonant." ?Daniel Kraus, Pulitzer Prize?winning author of Whalefall and Angel Down
From the nationally bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, comes a funny and moving novel in which a former college swimmer falls off a cruise ship and must keep treading water as memories and regrets wash over him?perfect for fans of Where'd You Go, Bernadette; Florence Adler Swims Forever; and The Wedding People.
"Man Overboard! is destined to be the best book of the summer." ?Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The View from Lake Como
Patrick ?Kick? Kilpatrick hates the ocean. Has always been terrified of it. And now he's in a real pickle.
Drifting alone in the sea after falling (or jumping? He can't remember as the all-inclusive drinks on the cruise he was taking with his extended family were, well, inclusive) Kick must survive. Breath by breath, hour by hour in the lonely sea.
As the waves crash over him, so too do the thoughts and memories of just how he got there. A Thanksgiving cruise with an obnoxious brother-in-law he has to bite his tongue to keep from screaming at. A father who gives the Great Santini a run for his money. And a mother who already left the family boat, so to speak, a long time ago. His family may be complicated, and the pains of life may seem unbearable?infuriating enough to leap from the deck?but maybe the will to survive is stronger.
Man Overboard! is an inventive, slyly hilarious, and inspiring novel about what it means to be alive and stay alive, and what keeps us going no matter how choppy the waves of our journey become. Hold on for dear life!
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Kathleen Rooney is the nationally bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, as well as Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey and From Dust to Stardust. She has won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from Poetry magazine and the Adam Morgan Literary Citizen Award from the Chicago Review of Books. Kathleen's criticism can be found in The New York Times, The Minnesota Star Tribune, The Brooklyn Rail, Chicago magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and beyond. She lives in Chicago with her spouse, the writer Martin Seay, and teaches English and creative writing at DePaul University.
