This Year's One Book Read
A Pearl in the Storm, by renowned athlete and adventurer Tori Murden McClure, is the 2024-2025 One Book Read at West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC). The college is also celebrating its “sweet sixteen” this year with the selection of its 16th title for this initiative.
A Pearl in the Storm is a riveting recounting of McClure’s solo row across the Atlantic Ocean in June, 1998. In a twenty-three-foot long, four-foot-high, six-foot-wide boat with no motor or sail that she and fellow friends and colleagues constructed, McClure had room for only the basics alongside her coffin-sized cabin where she slept. She took food for one hundred days, repair equipment, navigational tools, communications equipment, her favorite books to keep her company, anchors, lines, and two buckets – one for laundry and one for plumbing – and set out to confront her demons and “find a doorway to some higher intellectual awareness.” Instead, she found her heart in the middle of the ocean and discovered embracing her own humanity was more important than superhuman feats.
Filled with joy, pain, suffering, and romance amidst tragedy, A Pearl in the Storm is sure to leave readers inspired. McClure’s prose makes you feel as if you were rowing right alongside her, surrounded by sea creatures and the beauty and peril of the ocean.
“I couldn’t put it down,” Amy Sullivan, WKCTC One Book Read Events Committee Chair stated. “The author’s writing was captivating. I felt her exhaustion, suffering, and helplessness, while recognizing her resolve and drive, even when she confronted Hurricane Danielle.”
Dr. Kim Russell, WKCTC English program coordinator and chair of the One Book Read selection committee, said the book and the author are sure to inspire students, faculty, staff, and the community. “I attended a conference recently where McClure was the keynote speaker, and she was so engaging as she shared not only her ocean-rowing experience but also her other adventures and accomplishments as the first woman to ski to the geographic South Pole and climb Lewis Nunatuck in the Antarctic. She is simply amazing. As I listened, I knew she would be the perfect choice for our One Book Read author.”
Chosen as one of 25 “Books You Can’t Put Down” in the summer reading issue of O Magazine, A Pearl in the Storm was also turned into a musical titled “Row,” in 2021.
Tori Murden McClure was president of Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, for 14 years, from 2010 until June 30, 2024, and worked there 25 years total, serving as trustee and vice president before becoming president. She holds a bachelor’s in psychology from Smith College, a Master of Divinity from Harvard, a master’s in writing from Spalding University, and a J.D. from the University of Louisville. An athlete, adventurer, chaplain, lawyer, and leader, she has served as the Chair of the Board of the National Outdoor Leadership School, earned the Kentucky Derby Festival’s Silver Horse Shoe Award, and was the first woman to receive the Peter Bird Trophy for Tenacity and Perseverance from the Ocean Rowing Society International. Professionally, McClure has worked as Chaplain at Boston City Hospital, the executive director of a shelter for homeless women, as a public policy assistant for the Mayor of Louisville, and she worked for Muhammad Ali to assist with early efforts to create the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville.
The One Book Read project, which began at WKCTC in 2008, is an effort to encourage reading across various groups of people on campus and in the region. The project encourages the community, area school districts, and colleges to read the same book and come together to discuss it in a variety of settings. All WKCTC English 101 and high school dual credit students are currently reading the book. One Book partners including the McCracken County Public Library, Paducah City Schools, and McCracken County Schools join to plan various events and activities related to the book on the WKCTC campus and within the community. The culmination of the One Book project is the author’s visit to WKCTC for special presentations about the book, writing, and the importance of reading. Tori Murden McClure will visit WKCTC’s Clemens Fine Arts Center on March 18 and 19, 2025. The March 18th event begins with an author reception at 5:00 pm in the Student Center with free hors d'oeuvres, followed by the author presentation at 6:00 pm in the Clemens Fine Arts Center, with a book signing afterwards in the Student Center. On March 19, the author presentation begins at 11:00 am in the Clemens Fine Arts Center with a book signing following in the Clemens Gallery.
All events are free and open to the public.
A Pearl in the Storm is available for checkout at WKCTC’s Matheson Library and the McCracken County Public Library in print and eBook formats, or for purchase at the WKCTC bookstore.
