Ship of Fools: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

The classic bestseller by the Pulitzer Prize winner dramatizes the rise of totalitarianism in the 1930s in a sweeping story of a transatlantic cruise featuring a cast of unforgettable characters.

The story takes place in the summer of 1931, on board a cruise ship bound for Germany. Passengers include a Spanish noble person, a drunken German lawyer, an American divorcee, a pair of Mexican Catholic priests. This ship of fools is a crucible of intense experience, out of which everyone emerges forever changed. Rich in incident, passion, and treachery, the novel explores themes of nationalism, cultural and ethnic pride, and basic human frailty that are as relevant today as they were when the book was first published in 1962.

This book appeared on Mrs. Laura Bush's Family Favorites list, for recommended reading for adults.