Fatal Forecast by Michael J. Tougias - ISBN: 9780316556316
Paperback
Colossal storm, tiny raft: A miraculous survival against impossible odds.

Fatal Forecast

An Incredible True Story of Courage In a Savage Storm

$26.09

  • Paperback

    288 pages

  • Release Date

    21 April 2026

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Summary

As harrowing as The Perfect Storm-but with a miraculous ending-Fatal Forecast is one of the greatest survival stories ever told.

On the morning of November 21, 1980, two small boats set out from Cape Cod for Georges Bank, a prosperous fishing ground one hundred miles out to sea. The National Weather Service had forecast typical fall weather, and the young crew aboard the Sea Fever and the Fair Wind had no reason to expect that this trip would be any different from th…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780316556316
ISBN-10:0316556319
Author:Michael J. Tougias
Publisher:Little, Brown & Company
Imprint:Little, Brown Young Readers
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:288
Release Date:21 April 2026
Weight:251g
Dimensions:192mm x 132mm x 22mm
Series:True Survival
What They're Saying

Critics Review

Praise for Abandon Ship! A Junior Library Guild Selection

“This epic story races along, unspooling like a movie before our eyes–artfully, dramatically, revealing a little known part of WWII history. An intriguing book.” –Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way

“The authors do an excellent job of conveying the chaos and loss of this grisly historical incident without pushing young readers too deeply into the horror. Archival photos add immediacy to this sensational true-life story.” –Wall Street Journal

“An amazing account of a World War II event that is almost entirely unknown…. This story chronicles the courage, compassion, and perseverance of the few survivors of the incident, showcasing war at its worst and humanity at its best…. School librarians will want to add this to their collection.” –Booklist

“Through viscerally told accountings, including stories of passengers spending several days awaiting rescue aboard lifeboats, the authors deliver a fascinating tale of human perseverance and morality that explores the ‘most unusual actions in all of World War II, ’ as stated by the creators in an introduction.” –Publishers Weekly

“In contrast to the usual run of shipwreck tales built around the simple theme of “heroic survival against the odds,” this account depicts the 1942 torpedoing of the British liner Laconia as a realistically messy mix of confusion, desperation, altruism, cruelty, and extreme hardship.” –Booklist

“The unbiased narrative follows the personal stories of the real men, women, and children moved to German ships or abandoned in lifeboats on the open ocean. Ideal for WWII history fans and readers who have graduated from Lauren Tarshis’s I Survived series.”–School Library Journal

Praise for Fatal Forecast:

* “Tougias plunges readers into the action, rendering Hazard’s experiences and the valiant rescue efforts of the Coast Guard and two other boat crews with pulse-pounding panache…. Readers will be rooting for all these courageous men in this thrilling, edge-of-your-seat survival tale.”–Booklist, starred review

”[Tougias] has made a cottage industry of modern shipwreck and rescue tales and is superb at framing tense drama and building suspense with mounting nautical details… Middle and early high school readers who love a gripping adventure or survival story will tear through this one. Highly recommended.“–School Library Journal“A dramatic, beautifully told, pulse-pounding tale of tragedy and survival against the odds. It immerses you in the events to the point that you can almost feel the whipping winds and mountainous waves that pummeled the fishing vessels on George’s Bank, and made the subsequent Coast Guard rescue so daring and heroic.”–Eric Jay Dolin, award-winning author of Black Flags, Blue Waters and Left for Dead“An unforgettable story of the ocean’s fury and a man’s will to survive–Fatal Forecast draws you in on its powerful currents until you cannot put it down.”–Marc Favreau, award-winning author of Crash, Spies, and Attacked!

About The Author

Michael J. Tougias

Michael J. Tougias is the author of Abandon Ship!, the first book in the True Survival series, which he cowrote with Alison O Leary, and many other award-winning true rescue stories, including the New York Times bestseller The Finest Hours, A Storm Too Soon, Into the Blizzard, Rescue of the Bounty and Attacked at Sea, as well as the young reader s adaptation of In Harm s Way by Doug Stanton. A frequent lecturer who also enjoys visiting schools to talk about his books and show slides from the stories, Tougias splits his time between Massachusetts and Florida.

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