In The Boy on the Back of the Turtle, Quarrington attempts to discover his own little niche in the cosmos. Cruising the volcanic Galapagos Islands on a 90-foot liner called the Corinthian in the company of his daughter, age 7, and his father, age 73, he tries to find his place as a Son, as a Father, as a Mortal frolicking beneath the heavens.
One of the funniest and most talented writers on the planet, Quarrington employs his trademark combination of wry wit and poignant observation as he takes readers on a wide-ranging investigation of everything from blue-footed boobies, careerism, taxonomy and the nature of creation to pirates, frigate birds, Herman Melville and the precarious ecology of the islands and the planet. And as the Corinthian travels in the belly of night from one island to another, Quarrington wrestles with questions great and small. Given that the Galapagos is the historic site of God’s greatest setback, he points out, it is a fitting place to play out the battle within himself. A more engaging--and entertaining--battle has seldom been waged.