Crystal Ships

A sweeping saga of American idealism and disillusionment, Richard Sharp’s exquisite Crystal Ships traces the lives of seven friends through two decades of violence, hope, and social revolution.

Sharp spins an epic tale that starts back in the heady days of the Kennedy administration, when Camelot appeared as a shining beacon of hope for all Americans.

But as the years tick on, riots, assassinations, drugs, gender conflicts, and the Vietnam War come crashing into the country’s consciousness.

Through it all, seven very different individuals live out their lives against the backdrop of these monumental events, unwittingly encapsulating the spirit of the time. From a youthful striver from Boston’s Irish working class inspired by JFK, a Harvard-educated, would-be poet of the drug culture, and a dedicated Vietnam War volunteer, to an abused aspiring dancer and her repressed girlfriend, a conflicted housewife-career woman and a South African exchange student following the American dream—each individual carries the burden of the times.

A companion piece to Sharp’s prize-winning novel, The Duke Don’t Dance, the newly released Crystal Ships ultimately stands as a novel for its generation that is simply breathtaking in scope.