In his previous book, Fishing with My Old Guy, writer Paul Quarrington found his place in time, situating himself comfortably in the river of ages. Here he is more ambitious still: in The Boy on the Back of a 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 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. Quarrington employs his trademark combination of wit and poignant observation as he takes readers on wide-ranging investigation of everything from blue-footed boobies, careerism and the nature of creation pirates, Herman Melville and the precarious ecology of 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.