Dreamseeker's Daughter: A nautical memoir about an eccentric family living aboard an old schooner boat on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast in the 1950s

This is a tale of dreamers and dreams. Ed Goodlander, the father of this freewheeling family believes there are only two people in this world --- Dreamseekers and Dreamcrushers. Obviously one of the former, he is obsessed with the idea of buying a boat, so he can sail away to Paradise, namely the South Sea Islands, a place where babies never cry and you can live off the fruit of the land. The mother an Italian beauty looking for a ticket out of the ordinary marries him because he is the handsomest, most worldly man she has ever known. After serving a stint aboard a ship in WWII, Goodlander buys a sunken sailboat, raises it and moves his family aboard. Struggling, but dazzled by the man's charisma, the family goes through many hilarious adjustments. Whether they are living in a boatyard in Chicago, on the Mississippi River or sailing the Gulf Coast, the characters the Goodlander family meets rivals Mark Twain's. This salty tale offers a slice of Americana viewed from misty riverbanks, yacht clubs and coal docks. Written from the perspective of the daughter, it will have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Anyone who has ever lived on a boat, who loves boats, or dreams of a life of full of adventure will be delighted by this book.