I knew I would love this book from page one. How could I not? The book's first line reads, "Let's face it: normal, well-adjusted women don't row alone across oceans." This memoir held no surprise as to the final outcome of the quest, as the cover indicates the author was the first woman to row alone across an ocean. (This was the second indicator that this was to be a delicious read.)

You'll discover her motivation to take on this challenge through flashbacks to Tori's childhood. The times where she is compelled to defend her younger handicapped brother are heart breaking. When reading this book you will come to know the author as a force to be reckoned with; she earned degrees from Smith College and Harvard's Divinity School, has completed wilderness training in Alaska, and skied hundreds of miles to be one of two women reaching the South Pole. She built her boat, the American Pearl, and earned a law degree as well as making her two trans-oceanic voyages. I finished the book thinking there is nothing Tori Murden McClure cannot do.