Book Review: My Compass and Anchor to Windward: A Story of Love, Imagination and Adventure
Eleanor Byrd is a local writer and speaker and contributor to our own Valley New Media Project. Her most recent project, “My Compass and Anchor to Windward: A Story of Love, Imagination and Adventure,” is now available on Amazon.
A book women will love and men will enjoy. Travel through 70 years of history, famous figures, political intrigue, close calls with death, dirigibles exploding, plane crashes, WWII secret missions, and more. First to fly over the North and South Poles, Admiral Byrd organized and ran the 1st and 2nd Antarctic scientific expeditions in 1928 and 1933, he and his men wintering over in temperatures as low as −128.6 °F.
It was 1896 when Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Marie Ames met. They were 8-years-old; she from Boston, MA, and he from Winchester, VA. Even at 8-years-old, the future Admiral was a dreamer and risk-taker, with a rascally nature and adventuresome spirit reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Being brought up to be a Boston Brahmin, Marie found her life dull so naturally gravitated to Dick, and his need for a calm like-minded friend was drawn to Marie. Henceforth, they were best friends.
Marie and Dick remained firmly united as they courted, married, raised children, and lived through umpteen scares and adventures. Marie exhibited more courage than one could imagine due to his many risk-taking exploits. Still, no matter, the love letters between them are extraordinarily romantic and link them to historical events known to the public and international events not known. Marie lived with the pressures of raising four children essentially alone, in the public eye, during the Depression and succeeded in protecting her children from kidnapping threats.
Here, you will find two fascinating, strong-willed, and delightful people; their love and respect for each other enduring due to their acceptance of each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and trust, as well as their delightful senses of humor, that saw them through thick and thin.
