Breakers: A Novel About the Commercial Fishermen of Alaska

Bill McCloskey's novel Highliners established him as one of the foremost chroniclers of Alaska and earned raves and a loyal following for its exuberant, authentic depiction of life in America's most dangerous profession - commercial fishing. Now Breakers picks up where Highliners left off, following the fortunes of fisherman Hank Crawford, his wife Jody, iron-nosed cannery manager Swede Scorden, and the other vivid characters who make their living from the sea. Hank has come far from his days as a greenhorn. A skipper with his own boat and crew, he's taken on a whole new set of responsibilities - a third child, a brand-new boat, a dream house, and plenty of bank loans. It all seems manageable as long as the seemingly endless hauls of crab and salmon keep flowing in. Then, suddenly as a winter squall, trouble hits. Hank's boat is damaged; his youngest child falls ill; a devastatingly poor crab season brings little income; salmon prices plummet. During a trip to Japan, a troubled Hank is tempted to compromise his business ethics to save his boat - and drawn into a careless romance that could cost him the wife and family he loves. Breakers captures the excitement and danger of the fisherman's trade; the massive crab pots that can crush an unwary man in a moment; the homecoming celebrations in the Kodiak bars; the clashes between the fishermen and the foreign fleets that use legal loopholes to plunder American waters; the exhilarating abundance of an Alaskan fishing season in full swing; and the terrible fury of a storm sweeping against a twenty-foot tide. It is also a captivating portrait of a good man at a moral crossroads.