William Collins Wavewalker Breaking Free.

by Suzanne Heywood

‘A seven-year old girl on a seventy-foot yacht, for ten years, over fifty thousand miles of sailing. Wavewalker is the incredible true story of how the adventure of a lifetime became one child’s worst nightmare – and how her determination to educate herself enabled her to escape.

Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her parents and brother on a three-year voyage around the world. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal schooling. No one else knew where they were most of the time and no state showed any interest in what was happening to the children. Suzanne fought her parents, longing to return to England and to education and stability. This memoir covers her astonishing upbringing, a survival story of a child deprived of safety, friendships, schooling and occasionally drinking water…

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Travel, Book Club, Audiobook, Adventure

399 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2023

About the author

I grew up sailing around the world on a boat. My father set sail from England in 1976 on the Schooner Wavewalker with my brother, mother and me on board for what was supposed to be a three-year voyage but turned out to be a decade-long trip. While this meant that I saw a huge amount of our planet (though generally only the parts that are near sea level), it also meant that I was isolated as a child and struggled to get any formal education. Somehow, I managed to teach myself by correspondence and won a place to study at university. My book "Wavewalker" tells this story. It is both an adventure story and a coming-of-age story in a world that appeared idyllic but in reality was hugely challenging.

After gaining my degree and PhD I worked for a few years in the UK Treasury and for 17 years at McKinsey and Company, where I specialised in organisation design and strategy. My book, "ReOrg", co-authored with Stephen Heidari-Robinson captured the learnings from this for others to use when redesigning organisations.

In the Treasury I was lucky enough to meet my future husband, Jeremy Heywood, who went on to serve four UK Prime Ministers in various roles including Principal Private Secretary, Permanent Secretary of 10 Downing Street, Cabinet Secretary and the Head of the Civil Service. When he became ill in 2017, he agreed that I could write his biography, "What Does Jeremy Think", which records his extraordinary career. Alongside this I also wrote and published a short biography of his mother, Dr Brenda Swinbank, who was one of the UK's first female Roman archaeologists (“Recollections of a Female Archaeologist: A life of Brenda Swinbank”).

Reviews

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 5 out of 5]

'I had no control over my life when I was a child, but as an adult I have the right to tell my story as honestly as I can'.

The dream began in 1975 but the nightmare finally ended some ten years later. As a seven-year-old, Suzanne was excited, if not a little nervous, as her family cast off from England's shores to retrace one of Captain Cook's voyages. The trip was to be three years. It's safe to say that not only did the journey not go to plan but, indeed, the plan did not go to plan. 'trapped inside someone else's dream', Suzanne increasingly found it difficult to gain any control of education and ultimately her future. As time moved on, and circumstances became increasingly fraught, Suzanne relied on pure gumption and resilience to transform her circumstances.

Like Educated, if you enjoy reading the memoirs about someone who defies the odds and defines resilience- this book is for you. I easily digested 500 pages in just a couple of days.

Three word summary: adventurous, courageous and inspiring.

[Elizabeth Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after reading the article in The Guardian and raced through it in a couple of days - I loved it.

Though Suzanne's childhood undoubtedly took place in an incredible backdrop, her story is ultimately about the impact of her parents disregard for her feelings whilst at the same time putting her in a situation where fear was normal and her life was sometimes in danger. Her attempts as a young person to find connections with people who transited through her childhood were extremely moving, as well as the evolution of her increasing frustration and growing desire for independence. Ultimately this desire for independence and self-determination became intolerable to her parents, particularly her mum. The scenes where her mum makes unreasonable demands and then alienates her daughter were incredibly moving and well-written - Suzanne's unspoken desperation leaps from the page, as well as her constant battle to be allowed to have an education. Equally following the time she was in New Zealand ostensibly alone as a teenager is pretty haunting.

In the epilogue Suzanne writes that her parents described her upbringing as 'privileged' which really sums up the void between the writer's experience and the narrative her parents created for themselves.

A fantastic and thought-provoking book about a struggle to take control of your own life when those around you don't want you to.

[Heath Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading the extract from the Guardian's what we are reading now section. I was so drawn in that now I'm dying to read the rest.

Update: I got the audio version. It's like having the author in the passenger seat of your car chatting to you as she walks you through her incredible story. You can't help but imagine it from her eyes.

It's an inspirational story of life at sea from the perspective of a young girl entirely at the mercy of other people's obsessions. Its full of danger, drama and her drive to escape.
I'm sure you won't be disappointed curled up with this book or hearing it as I did.

[Ember Willard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This memoir is about a dangerous childhood spent sailing, read for book club. While the author definitely has an interesting and unusual story (I even recommended this book to my mom!), I thought the overall execution of parts of the book were poor, including details important to her but irrelevant to the reader, and providing no conclusion on most of the characters and storylines. I also wanted more reflection on aspects of the story from an adult perspective, for example, the financial struggles her parents are facing that are likely driving many of the decisions.

[J.H. Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sounded like a fascinating read but it really fell short for me. Heywood obviously has an axe to grind with her family - which is completely understandable, her parents were reckless and irresponsible and had no business raising children - but that resentment dominates the narrative to the detriment of the story. She has no problem recounting the details of every major and minor disagreement she had with her parents but completely omits details that would be interesting to the reader, such as the day-to-day of living on a boat, descriptions of the places they visit and the people they meet. Heywood definitely lived an interesting childhood, it's unfortunate that she is not a better writer.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book: it was a well written and easy to read account of someone who had a very different childhood but managed to survive it. A few bits of the book (like the adult Suzanne going off in search of Wavewalker) were a bit tedious: factual accounts for completeness rather than part of the main story.

Suzanne’s account was of a frankly abusive childhood where her needs were pretty much always at the bottom of the list of priorities. Having finished the book I wanted to know more about what happened to her after this. I found her unconventional upbringing clearly didn’t hold her back: she’s had a very successful life, education, career and relationship, a high achiever in any terms.

I also found accounts online of her brother and father discrediting Suzanne’s account (ie this book). To be honest these didn’t hold water for me. The family clearly had a very sexist approach towards male and female roles, and to have the two men of the family rubbishing the woman’s account was no great surprise. They simply didn’t have any awareness.

I did also feel that at this time (the 70s and 80s) children generally didn’t get a say in how their family was run or what they did. Especially girl children. So some of what happened was culturally normal, it was just that Suzanne’s parents (actually her father) just chose a more radical and unusual route and lifestyle than most.

What was particularly sad was Suzanne’s relationship with her mother, which was frankly awful. But it really sounded like her mother was rather a victim of the dad’s autocratic flights of fancy too. She sounded depressed for a lot of time, and clearly took her plight out on her daughter.

Anyway, a good read. Many thanks to my fantastic local library for ordering this in for me.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always like to read books about people’s lives and struggles. This was an interesting book/story. My take? Author’s parents were idiots and in today’s world would have been charged with neglect. But don’t think Haywood wrote the book to expose that. She was just telling her story from Age 7 to 17. Probably trying to sort it all out. Very unconventional upbringing. Love reading stories of people who overcome their early years as children with little parental support. And then go on to lead a “normal” life. Easy read. Told well.

[Curty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing

It's hard for me to write a review for this book without coming off as an overly enthusiastic used-car salesperson, but I'm going to try anyway.

Like many others here on Goodreads, I was gripped by the excerpt of Wavewalker in The Guardian. Despite having no particular interest in sailing, biographies, or the major events that occurred before I was born, there was something about that excerpt that made me want to buy this book on the day it was released - and I did.

I read it cover to cover in just a couple of days. I couldn't put it down; I was up until 2am, too gripped to stop reading.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Sue, you are incredible. I wish you all the best in life and hope that this book becomes a massive success, as it certainly deserves to be.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This will be one of my best books of the year. This is the story of a seven year old girl and her six year old brother who go on an ocean voyage, following the path of Captain Cook’s third voyage. The trek is supposed to take three years, after which they will go back home to England. The years pass, and her father continues to change plans and sail on to other locations. The children struggle to keep up any semblance of education and friends. Finally, at age seventeen, Suzanne manages to get accepted to college in Oxford, and with much difficulty, gets back to begin her studies. This non fiction book reveals the hard work and danger of sailing the oceans, the difficult family relationships, and her excruciating loneliness while trapped in her father’s dream that just went on and on. An absolutely stunning book!

[RichardGreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Guardian extract left me wanting to know more … but I’m not sure the book actually does that. It’s an incredible story of adventure and resilience but it leaves so many questions unanswered, particularly about relationships - with her dad, her brother and many of the other adults who passed through her young life. But above all the relationship with her mother. Was there any reconciliation in later life? It appears not as her mother threatens her husband’s career (Why? How? What career?) when she knows Suzanne is writing this book - yet more unanswered questions. Suzanne Heywood is a truly remarkable woman to have come through all the experiences she documents, but I don’t feel that this book does full her justice.

[Jarrod Sio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially Tara Westover’s “educated”, but on a schooner. There are even similar dramatis personae - the recalcitrant patriach, the hapless mother figure, the toxic favoured sibling. Both Westover and Heywood even earned PhDs at Cambridge, the former at Trinity and the latter at King’s. That’s not all. The family of both authors had denounced the stories, which adds to the spectacle. Overall, a good read.

[Oriana]

This excerpt, oh my god.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good life at sea story, and this memoir of a childhood circumnavigating the globe was very compelling. Heywood’s childhood on the ocean is full of interesting stories about people and exotic locations, about the challenges and chaos of the ocean, and most interestingly about the complex dynamic of her family. It’s told without excessive sentiment and with a healthy critical lens. A great memoir.

[Jillfill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am NOT okay…this is such a hauntingly beautiful memoir and I truly urge ANYBODY/EVERYBODY to read this book because it is WELL worth your time. It’s been a while since i’ve been emotionally moved by a book…I feel like crying for child Sue and her loss of adolescence due to her parents selfishness and narcissistic tendencies but also I am astonished that she survived all of that because I think I would just curl up into a fetal position and die?

[Kj · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 70s and 80s were lawless with children left to for fend for themselves. In a normal home environment, it can teach some things of value, but always leaves needs unmet. On the ocean, in a boat in the South Pacific and left alone on the islands, it's straight-up child abuse. I can relate to Suzanne's fight to be free and educated and her journey. What a beautiful and tough read.

[Camilla Chester · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve taken an unusual long time to finish this book. I wanted to finish it but I struggled with it in lots of ways.

I felt like I was reading an account of a woman trying to face childhood trauma and neglect rather than what I’d expected, which was an account of an upbringing at sea. I realise this was her process of accepting what had happened to her and how it shaped her as a person but I wasn’t comfortable at being privy to that as a stranger and for entertainment purposes. Similar, in a way, to trying to watch Baby Reindeer, which, unlike this book, I couldn’t continue with.

The tone and style of the writing was also difficult, fluctuating between basic, almost mundane conversations to glossing over hugely dramatic and often near death experiences. I felt the writer couldn’t agree a style and wasn’t fully emotionally free, sticking to a factual, distant, reporter-style approach to her deeply personal story. The two things didn’t work in my mind.

Having said that it was completely fascinating at times the dynamics of the differing crews, the places visited, the storms and her growing need to be free.

Memorable book but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting but difficult and painful to read. This girl’s family was awful and I’m glad she did so well for herself. But the book was very long, very detailed, and sometimes with things she couldn’t possibly remember.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book, but the storyline could use some editing and tightening up.

[Robyn Covell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story started out very intense and reads like fiction. As Sue's odyssey continued on throughout the book, I became increasingly focused on her parents and their choices for their children. I hoped that I would get some context or answers for the frequent neglect and emotional damage they inflicted, but I was left wondering what the heck the adults in the situation were thinking. Highly recommend for fans of biographies, adventure, and strong female characters.

[Eva Lavrikova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toto pre mňa bola zdrvujúco rozporuplná kniha.
Časť mňa - tá, ktorá miluje plachtenie, lode, more a predstavu nomádskeho života a jeho nekonečných dobrodružstiev - bola nadšená. Nevedela som sa nabažiť popisu nových a nových plavieb, destinácií, priateľstiev a zážitkov, dokonca aj tých krušných a životu nebezpečných.
Druhá časť môjho ja však bola znepokojená, miestami smutná, miestami rozčúlená. Spôsob, akým rodičia rozhodovali o živote svojich detí a o ich (ne)vzdelaní, akým im nielen odopierali istotu a bezpečie medziľudských vzťahov mimo vlastnej rodiny, ale opakovane zlyhávali aj v ich zabezpečení priamo v rodine, bol z môjho pohľadu na samej hranici zneužívania.
Každý rozprávač má svoju verziu príbehu, o tom niet pochýb. V tomto konkrétnom prípade sa verzie pomerne líšia. Osobne však nemám problém uveriť autenticite autorkinho pohľadu - vzhľadom k objektívnym skutočnostiam by bolo naopak pomerne neuveriteľné, keby tento spôsob života počas takmer desiatich rokov vo veku sedem až sedemnásť rokov takéto krízové momenty a ťažké prežívanie nezahŕňal.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an extraordinary account of a very difficult upbringing with parents who should be ashamed of themselves, especially the mother who's selfish outlook on life is appalling. At times I felt the dialogue was excessive and some detail unnecessary, quite child like in its construction. However, I listened to the audiobook and felt the narration let the book down. There is a skill to holding the listeners attention and the author (for me) does not have that skill.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. My favorite parts were the nautical sections.

[Alice Petre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suzanne’s writing is incredibly raw and I can’t imagine capturing a childhood as difficult as hers in the written word like she does. Taught me a lot about resilience and how to keep fighting for what you want to do!

The more I find out about heywood now, makes me more in awe of her! She is a real powerhouse and an incredible inspiration

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her 2023 childhood trauma memoir, British executive Suzanne Heywood (born Suzanne Cook in 1969) recounts her itinerant childhood and adolescence sailing around the world from the ages of approximately 7 to 17 alongside her parents and brother. What started out as a 3-year voyage meant to commemorate and loosely retrace the 200-year anniversary of Captain James Cook's 3rd and final voyage (detailed excellently in Hampton Sides' The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook; of note the author is of no relation to James Cook, despite a shared last name) turned into a decade unmoored (pun intended). Heywood was largely miserable during this decade, largely raising herself (her parents seemed downright neglectful) and desperately longing for a sense of normalcy, a regular school, and friendships that'd last longer than the family would stay in one port. At 16/17, her parents abandoned her and left in charge of her brother with insufficient funding as they continued to sail around the world. Thankfully, Heywood's diligence with her studies led to education being her ultimate escape (she completed her bachelor's degree at Oxford in 1990 and a PhD in 1993), and she's gone onto have a successful business career, pivoting to writing after her husband's death (prior to this memoir, she published biographies of her late husband, Jeremy Heywood, and her late mother-in-law, archeologist Brenda Swinbank).

The motivations of Heywood's parents for undertaking such a reckless voyage with two young children seemed misguided at best, malicious at worst, and were never fully elucidated in this book, though apparently writing this book led to a seemingly-permanent estrangement between Heywood and her parents. Her parents certainly do not come off well in this book.

In terms of the book itself, I think Heywood largely wrote it for her own healing. It's excessively detailed, based on Heywood's recollections and journals she kept on the ship, and largely told through a child's eyes (similar to Javier Zamora's Solito), with surprisingly scant reflections from an adult's perspective. For a childhood memoir, it's also extremely long (416 pages/13 hour audiobook -- full disclosure, around 2/3 of the way through I began skipping ahead out of sheer boredom, which is rare for me to do in memoirs) and would have benefitted from a more selective editing highlighting particularly salient examples versus a blow-by-blow of Heywood's entire decade at sea. I would have also appreciated more content focusing on after Heywood enrolled at Oxford and reintegrated into society and how her relationship with her parents was sustained between the late 1980s and late 2010s when they became estranged.

My statistics:
Book 315 for 2024
Book 1918 cumulatively

[Soňa · Rating 4 out of 5]

PODCASTové zamyslenie je tu
Keď mala Suzanne Heywood sedem rokov, spolu s bratom a rodičmi vyplávala z anglického Plymouthu na cestu okolo sveta. Ich plavba, ktorá spočiatku kopírovala tretiu impozantnú výpravu Jamesa Cooka, mala trvať len tri roky, no napokon sa predĺžila na takmer desaťročie.
V knihe Vyrástla som na mori rozpráva príbeh o námorníckom živote, v ktorom rodina zápasila s búrkami, útesmi, nedostatkom jedla a izoláciou, a dokonca aj o stroskotaní v Indickom oceáne. Nikto nevedel, kde sa rodina práve nachádza, a žiadny štát neprejavoval záujem o to, čo sa deje s deťmi na palube. Suzanne, ktorá od detstva túžila po stabilite, musela odhodlane bojovať s rodičmi, aby vôbec získala vzdelanie a mohla sa vrátiť domov. V sedemnástich rokoch jej udelili štipendium na Oxfordskej univerzite a odvtedy žije vo Veľkej Británii.
Kniha Vyrástla som na mori je neuveriteľný skutočný príbeh dievčaťa, pre ktoré sa rodinné dobrodružstvo stalo veľkou nočnou morou a ktoré túžba po vzdelaní napokon priviedla k vysnívanej slobode....

To čo znie ako super nápad, nemusí vždy byť super nápad.... ako postupne zistí hlavná aktérka knihy Sue.
Vysnívaný sen jej rodičov, byť ako ďalší Cook a objavovať svet a plaviť sa po oceánoch je síce idea krásna, ale s deťmi vo veku 6 a 7 rokov v úvode knihy to až také vtipné nie je, keď každá búrka a každý cyklón hrozí, že potopí loďku...
Spísala som si niektoré "výborné" komentáre od rodičov do progres update, lebo teda o veciach sa nediskutuje a kapitán má posledné slovo... len teda to mohol povedať niekto v úvode a nehrať sa na kamošov odvedľa. Lebo toto fakt nebolo v záujme detí at all. Ale áno, zažili kopec skvelých vecí a maju neskutočné zážitky... a do toho neskutočné problémy existovať vo svete ľudí a dôverovať im... parenting at its best... veľmi ironicky napísané.
Plus mám pocit, že po istej dobe im dcéra bola na príťaž, lebo trhala "partu" a nerobila bezducho veci ako sa očakávali. Zaujímal by ma pohľad jej brata Jona, keďže to by mohlo vniesť do popisu viac informácii...

Prvá veta: „Na záver tohto predslovu preto čitateľa žiadam, aby ospravedlnil štylistické nepresnosti, na ktoré v nasledujúcom rozprávaní nepochybne často narazí, a aby si pri ich výskyte uvedomil, že ide o dielo človeka, ktorému nebolo dopriate privilégium školského vzdelania, ale ktorý bol od mladosti neustále na mori.“
Posledná veta: Povedala by som však, že oveľa zásadnejší vplyv mala kniha na moju budúcnosť, pretože mi ešte jasnejšie odhalila, čo je pre mňa naozaj podstatné: vnútorná potreba prekonávať nové výzvy, zaplniť svoj svet výtvarným umením a hudbou a možno to najdôležitejšie – obklopovať sa ľuďmi, ktorým na mne záleží a ktorí mi umožnia samostatne rozhodovať o svojom osude.
Goodreads Challenge 2025: 3. kniha

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

“‘What you kids must realize,’ he said, leaning back and blowing out a mouthful of smoke, ‘is this isn’t a democracy. It’s a benevolent dictatorship. The captain always gets the casting vote.’”

Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her family on a three-year voyage around the world. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal schooling.

Suzanne fought her parents, longing to return to England and to education and stability. This memoir covers her astonishing upbringing, a survival story of a child in dire circumstances deprived of safety, friendships, schooling, occasionally drinking water… At eighteen, through resolve and resilience, Suzanne earned a place at Oxford university and returned to the UK.

From the bestselling author of What Does Jeremy Think?, Wavewalker is the incredible true story of how the adventure of a lifetime became one child’s worst nightmare – and how determination helped her escape.

What an unconventional childhood Suzanne led! I do not know how her father was able to get them out of the danger they were in every. Single. Time. It’s quite miraculous, actually. Wavewalker is a story of strength, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of higher education. A fascinating tale!

While the story was interesting, I struggled to keep going with it. There just wasn’t that pull to pick it back up that I normally get. It could be a bit shorter and maybe edited down a little more.

Thank you to @harpercollins, @suzannaheywood1, and @tlcbooktours for the #gifted copy.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whiny and mundane story

The author is so focused on pressing the point of how "damaging" her childhood was that she misses the story. It's a very mundane account of her travels filled with woe is me dialogue. I realize she was unhappy and wished to live a "normal" life but there was so much she she missed out on including in the story by focusing on the inner feelings she held throughout the journey. More elaboration on the places they visited and the daily life on board would have been fascinating to read. Long story short if you are searching for a book about how sad the author was and her inner feelings of betrayal this is the book for you. But if you're looking for a story about education and life of a world traveler you'll be disappointed.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trapped in someone else’s dream. What could be more idyllic than a childhood spent sailing the islands of the South Pacific. Yet the author suffers intense physical and emotional pain and must fight hard the be able to snatch opportunities to learn from second hand books and correspondence courses marked miles away and posted back to the “wrong” location. The contrast between having to suffer the limited options permitted by sailing parents and then sudden independence (abandonment) are stark. A great read - and well done Childline for a small but significant role

[Christoffer Dahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic book. It is thoroughly gripping and so thought-provoking. Everyone who has ever grown up at sea should read this, and everyone who hasn’t should also read it. This one will stay with me. Quite possibly the best autobiography I have ever read. Her story is inspiring, and her writing is beautiful.
The audio book is great, and if you have the book (or find them online, the audio book explains how, but I had to own a physical book as well), the photographs are a lovely addition.

[Carly]

I have a rock in my stomach after reading this. Memoirs can be the scariest types of stories. Education is such a privilege!!!