The Wanderer: I. Preparations Summary & Analysis

1. The Sea. The book begins with a journal entry by Sophie. She describes how the sea has called out to her since she was little, and how—despite being told she was too young by adults—she followed the call, going out in dinghies and motorboats, and learning how to sail. Sophie then describes a nightmare she’d have of a towering black wave creeping up on her, nearly crushing her, but she always woke up just in time. Sophie says she always felt like she was floating when she awoke from the nightmare.

2. Three Sides. In her next journal entry, Sophie writes that her father calls her “Three-sided Sophie,” because one side of her personality is “dreamy and romantic,” while another is “logical and down-to-earth,” and the third side is “hardheaded and impulsive.”

Sophie tells us that she’s thirteen years old, and that she’s going to sail across the ocean with her uncles and cousins to visit her grandfather, Bompie, in England. She says that her uncles Stew and Mo tried to dissuade her from joining them on the trip—they told her that the boat wouldn’t be “a very pleasant place for a girl.” Uncle Dock, whom Sophie calls “the good uncle,” supports Sophie’s desire to join them, arguing that she knows more about boats than her two cousins—Brian and Cody—combined.

3. Slow Time.Sophie writes that the crew of the boat, called “The Wanderer,” is hoping to set sail in June. She also says that her family has just moved to Kentucky from the coast of Virginia, and the only water where she lives now is the Ohio River, which she calls “as sleepy as the town.” The kids in her class, however, love the river, and they don’t understand why Sophie wants to leave to travel across the ocean. One of them says that Sophie just got here, and that she shouldn’t leave because no one knows anything about her, like where she lived before. But Sophie writes that she doesn’t want to get into all of that—that she would prefer to “start from zero,” to start over.

4. The Big Baby. Sophie writes that her father drove her to Connecticut to join her uncles and cousins at Dock’s cottage. She says that she’s been holed up there with them for two weeks, making repairs on their boat, “The Wanderer.” She describes her Uncle Stew as a worrywart, and his son Brian as a “photocopy” of him, the two both placing a lot of value in being highly organized all the time. Sophie describes her Uncle Mo as “a bit on the chubby side” and always lying around tanning instead of helping with the boat, yet nonetheless barking orders. Cody, his son, is “fit and muscular,” and always attracting the attention of girls who pass by the cottage. Uncle Dock, Sophie says, is “easygoing and calm,” unfazed by any mistakes the crew makes when repairing the boat.