To Run Before the Sea (Rosie Winterbourne Thriller) - Softcover

Rothery, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798235177598

Publisher: Weatherdeck Books, 2026

Synopsis

When everything familiar is taken from her, Rosie Winterbourne does the only thing she knows how to do: she sails off alone.

A gifted naval sailor with a fierce will to endure, Rosie is already fractured by loss when her life begins to unravel-her career derailed, her loyalties tested, and her sense of reality itself called into question. Haunted by memory, driven by guilt, and carrying a secret she barely understands, she turns to the one place that has ever offered her clarity: the open ocean.

Alone aboard a small yacht, Rosie sets out on a journey that is as dangerous inwardly as it is outwardly. Storms rise, boundaries blur, and the sea becomes both adversary and refuge. As miles slip astern, she is forced to confront not only the physical risks of sailing alone, but the deeper truths she has spent her life outrunning-about grief, identity, courage, and the cost of survival.

To Run Before the Sea is a powerful, emotionally charged novel about resilience and reckoning, where the vastness of the ocean mirrors the depths of the human mind. Written with authenticity, intensity, and grace, it explores what happens when the only way forward is into the unknown-and when staying afloat means finally letting yourself feel.

About this title

About the Author

'"Write about what you know and write truly" was the rule Ernest Hemingway (my 15th cousin, according to ancestry.com) lived by. He believed in utilizing personal experiences and true emotions to make a story believable. And that's what informs my own writing. You don't need to know the sea to be swept away by it. My thrillers are not written for sailors alone. They are written for anyone who loves suspense, danger, strong characters, and stories that pull you irresistibly onward. Because it's what I know, the maritime world provides the setting, but it is never a barrier: the language is clear, the stakes are human, and the drama is universal. You won't need a chart, a glossary, or any nautical experience to follow the story-only a taste for tension, intrigue, and adventure. '

Michael Rothery

Michael Rothery is a lifelong writer whose fiction is shaped by decades at sea. He began writing poems and letters long before turning to full-length fiction in 2012. He served twenty-five years in the Royal Navy, gaining extensive operational and maritime experience that now underpins the realism of his novels.

Alongside his writing career, he qualified as a yachtmaster and worked for a time on yacht deliveries. In 2015, he bought a sailing yacht in Greece and sailed solo to the Caribbean via the Atlantic Islands. He went on to cruise the Lesser Antilles for several years before crossing to the Azores. In 2024, he sold his boat and came ashore, bringing with him a lifetime of naval service, blue-water sailing, and firsthand maritime knowledge that informs every aspect of his writing.

Edition details

• Publisher: Weatherdeck Books
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798235177598
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 436