Sea of Lost Dreams: A Dugger/Nello Novel

Breaking out of a Mexican jail on the Day of the Dead in 1921, the ne’er-do-well sea captain Dugger, his lover Kate, and his engagingly sardonic first mate Nello set sail on their ketch for Tahiti. They carry two mysterious passengers: a defrocked Irish nun in search of her lost twin brother and a French spy hunting the unknown leader of an anticolonial uprising. Muddling their quest are fourteen tons of gold stolen from a church in Peru and hidden in a lagoon in the Tuamotous—a true story. Guided by Gauguin’s Polynesian daughter, they navigate the spectacular South Seas and an ancient culture of beauty that is as brutal as it is benign. This entangled story of love, betrayal, and clashing civilizations ends in an apocalyptic convergence of unforeseen destinies.

Ferenc Máté has reinvented a genre that hasn’t been seen since London and Conrad: polished writing, humanism, and sheer adventure.

A genre not seen since London and Conrad: polished writing, humanism, and sheer adventure. -- Carl Cramer

"Gut-wrenching action, characters so beautifully damaged that your heart will ache for them, with a storm saga that could only have been written by a deep water sailor. The best 'Tahiti' novel since ." Woodenboat Magazine

"Profoundly moving, deeply disturbing and terrifyingly beautiful. The characters are strong yet mysterious; the action is never-ending and compelling. Ferenc Maté is the leading sailing adventure writer of our time" Carl Cramer

Sea of Lost Dreams will be a timeless classic. Mr. Mat

"One hell of a storm-tossed voyage full of intrigue, romance and surprise. You won't put down once you've cracked the cover." Truby Chiaviello, Editor of Primo

"A thrilling page-turner. A gripping search in a violent world of revolution in the South Seas of the 1920s." Mark Anderson Adventure TI

A rousing sequel to Ghost Sea… in Máté’s capable hands adds up to romance, danger, betrayal, and tragedy on an island paradise with its share of satanic choices.Profoundly moving, deeply disturbing and terrifyingly beautiful. The characters are strong yet mysterious; the action is never-ending and compelling. Ferenc Maté is the leading sailing adventure writer of our time --Carl Cramer

"A rousing sequel to ... in Máté's capable hands adds up to romance, danger, betrayal, and tragedy on an island paradise with its share of satanic choices." Publishers Weekly

" will be a timeless classic. Mr. Maté has taken the baton handed him by Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville." Carl Cramer Woodenboat Magazine

The second gripping sea-adventure and anthropological-thriller in the Dugger/Nello series capturing the waning days of a South Seas civilization. Its Joseph Conrad meets Elmore Leonard.

The second gripping sea-adventure and anthropological-thriller in the Dugger/Nello series capturing the waning days of a South Seas civilization.

It's 1921, Mexico. Ne'er-do-well sea captain Dugger, his lover Kate, and his sardonic first mate Nello break out of jail and set sail for the South Seas. But the islands of Polynesia aren't the Eden they expected.

With their two passengers--a mysterious young woman searching for her twin brother and a French secret agent sent to kill an anticolonialist radical--their tortuous voyage becomes a true test of friendship, love, and faith as they battle a tropical storm and hunt for a crew lost at sea. Amid the uprising of the doomed Marquesan culture, a ravishing native surfer pilots them through a white-knuckle chase among the volcanic jungle islands of human sacrifice and virgin rites, culminating in a spectacular convergence of the characters' fates.

Mexico, , 1921. Penniless and hunted, Nello, Dugger and his lover Kate make a spectacular moonlit jailbreak and set sail for the paradise of the South Seas. But they fall prey to the intrigue of two mysterious stowaways: Darina, a young Irish escapee from the brutal Magdalene nuns, in search of her lost twin; and Guillaume, a seasoned French spy sent to kill the leader of an anti-colonial uprising. Set in the fiercely beautiful volcanic islands of French Polynesia, this enthralling historical adventure is the story of man against the fury of the elements; of dreams colliding with reality; of an anguished ancient culture combating tyranny. From a savage storm at sea, to cannibalism and exotic sexual rites, to a study of two women--one desperate to remember her past, the other as determined to forget it--their exhilarating voyage, becomes a true test of love, faith and friendship.

A gripping reinvention of timeless tales of the sea--the second book in the acclaimed Dugger/Nello series of anthropological thrillers.

Ferenc Máté was born in Hungary and escaped after the revolution at the age of eleven. He grew up in Vancouver, and has lived in California, Paris, Rome, the Bahamas and New York. He had worked on a railroad extra-gang and as a boatbuilder, photographer, deckhand and book editor. His many books include the nautical bestsellers From a Bare Hull, Shipshape and The World’s Best Sailboats, as well as Autumn, A New England Autumn, A Reasonable Life, A Real Life, The Hills of Tuscany and The Wisdom of Tuscany. He and his family run their vineyards and winery in Montalcino, Tuscany.