Product Description

These are the collected journals and poetry of Nicholas Heiney who died in 2006, aged 23, after taking his own life. These vivid writings about his adventures on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, together with his poetry, remained undiscovered until after his death. His parents, Paul and Libby Heiney were urged to publish them by Prof. Duncan Wu of Oxford University, Nick s former tutor, who realized the depth and maturity in both his prose and poetry. It is, as he writes in his introduction, a powerful piece of writing, exemplary in its sanity and clear-sightedness .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217478 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

About the Author
Nicholas Heiney was born in 1982, the son of the journalists Paul Heiney and Libby Purves and brother of the actress and writer Rose Heiney. In the last six years of his life he sailed widely, crossing both the Atlantic and the Pacific as a deckhand aboard the square-rigged barque Europa, and training young Koreans in seamanship. He learned to dive, rowed for his Oxford college, and enthusiastically took part in cycle racing. After his degree in English Language and Literature at St Catherine s College, Oxford, he studied for a short while as a postgraduate at Liverpool University,specializing in Imagist poetry, but became disillusioned with the literary critical industry, writing that Literature is often flamboyant and frivolous and should be written about in such a way . He took his life on the 26th June, 2006, after a long and well-concealed battle with severe mental disturbance.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful...
This made me cry at least 3 times. As a fellow tall shipper, I could understand so many of his experiences and yet there was always the feeling that he is utterly different to anyone else. Things that I have seen are given a completely new light through his eyes. The poetry is incredible - you have read each one several times to let the beauty wash over you. The diary itself is so intimate, you feel as if you know him and the conclusion does seem to be a major loss to humanity.
Far from being a call for pity, this book almost seems to be reaching out to those who may be struggling with difficult times or emotions, and saying, 'don't worry. you aren't alone.'
Buy this book.

sensitive development
This is remarkably sensitive production. Showing the development of a young man's sense of language and of himself through his last years which held great joy and achievement but also great turbulence. It is sheer poetry. This book would be a wonderful read to anyone who loves the written word or who perhaps has lost a son or who, like me, has spent many years enjoying the sea's delights.