A novel of the American Revolution at sea
Learn what others don’t learn.
In 1770s New England, a ragtag crew of drifters and misfits gets hold of a formidable new schooner and, without meaning to, sails straight into the American Revolution.
Making Way · II
The Revolutionary Storm Rages
Making Way · I
Sailing into the Revolutionary Storm
The books
Making Way · I
Sailing into the Revolutionary Storm
Volume I · Available now
A group of aimless young people on the waterfront gets the use of a formidable schooner, the COMMERCE, and soon finds itself in open conflict with the Crown.
Making Way · II
The Revolutionary Storm Rages
Volume II · Available now
With no way back, the crew renames the ship the PYGG and turns privateer. Then a desperate order arrives from the very top of the rebellion.
The characters
The GrandpaThe island’s storyteller
LaurelThe granddaughter who hears the tale
AlanHas never had the luxury of planning for tomorrow
ChrisRaised by a Cossack clan and determined to go to sea
RoseA sharp mind who makes the most of every opportunity
NevAn old sea dog whose sailing days ended with an injuryLessons from the Voyage · Lesson 4
Towards the horizon with a weathered eye opened for opportunities and wary of threats.
Read all 16 lessonsOne of the men“Who are your enemies?”
Alan“I have never in my life had an enemy.”
A second man“Have you never been exploited? Do you know what is happening in these colonies?”
Alan“I know only the world that I see. That is all that I can handle.”
Read the opening
An old man walks slowly across the weathered landscape of Cuttyhunk. He is a difficult, crusty, and critical man whose only soft spot is his affection for the sea. He walks the small island from end to end every day except for the harshest of winter days.
The author
Dick Farkas is a professor of political science at DePaul University. He has taught thousands of students and traveled to remote shores around the world, bringing home a small jar of sand from each one. Making Way draws on a lifetime of watching young people meet the challenges of their time.