Book Review: "The Ghost of the Mary Celeste" by Valerie Martin

As you know I've started using the library in this city more and though it is a bit out from me, there is still a reason to use it: to get out of my apartment a little bit. As of writing this review, it is the 23rd of February 2025 and well, you know how much I love a good ghost story. I had heard of this book before and I'd even seen it back in the library in my hometown but for some reason I had only felt compelled to pick it up now. It is one of those books where I do actually regret not reading it earlier on in my life. It is absolutely fantastic.

The novel centres around two primary plot lines: the mystery of the Mary Celeste and the life of Sarah, a young woman who, through her connection to the ship, finds herself entangled in its tragic mystery. Martin does not present the Mary Celeste mystery as a simple, historical event, but rather as a symbol of the broader human experience of isolation and the unknown. The narrative structure alternates between Sarah’s personal story and the events surrounding the Mary Celeste, with Sarah’s own life being intertwined with the ship’s fate in ways that are slowly revealed throughout the novel. Even the structure of the book has this ghostly atmosphere to it and that is what makes it so addictive.

Sarah, a young woman living in New York, is the novel’s protagonist. She is intelligent, but struggling with a sense of alienation and disillusionment. Her life feels constrained by societal expectations, and she is unsure of her place in the world. At the start of the novel, Sarah’s personal journey intersects with the story of the Mary Celeste, leading her to question her own fears and desires. Sarah’s curiosity about the ship's mystery grows throughout the novel, and she develops a fascination with the unexplained disappearance of its crew. She is also drawn to the idea of escape, seeing the Mary Celeste as both a metaphor and a possibility for her own life, which is marked by feelings of entrapment and confusion. Sarah is a brilliant character who would fit in well in an Edith Wharton novel or earlier.

Throughout the novel, the Mary Celeste is not just a physical ship but a ghostly presence. The ship looms over the narrative, a spectral reminder of the unanswered questions that permeate the story. The ship becomes a symbol of the unseen, of things that exist but cannot be understood or fully known. This haunted quality of the Mary Celeste is reflected in Sarah’s own life, as she is also searching for answers to questions that seem impossible to answer. Martin expertly blurs the line between the physical and the psychological, using the ship as both a literal and metaphorical device. As we go on, this becomes more and more apparant and thus, more and more ghostly.

One of the novel’s central themes is isolation. Sarah, the main character, feels disconnected from the world around her, unable to find a place where she truly belongs. She is a woman caught between the roles society expects her to play and her own sense of self, which remains undefined. This sense of alienation is mirrored in the story of the Mary Celeste, whose crew mysteriously disappears, leaving the ship adrift and untethered. The novel explores how isolation can shape individuals, particularly Sarah, who finds herself both physically and emotionally distanced from the people around her. This sense of being unmoored is central to the novel’s exploration of human nature, as Sarah grapples with the loneliness of her existence and the fear that comes with it.

This is something I saw when I was reading The Terror as well, a huge theme of isolation not only on the ship but on the lands where there was something very clearly amiss. There are certain aspects about these characters you do not forget and yet, you can always recognise when they are moving themselves quietly away from everyone.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book because of the way it uses and builds on the classic isolated ghost story. It expands it into beautiful prose which is opened by this wonderful prologue in which we see an sailor and his wife confront death. Working in the theme of the sublime is clearly not difficult for this author.