This is the author's story of Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman and his relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. The battle for his catch becomes one of survival against a band of marauding sharks. The story combines the simplicity of a fable, the significance of a parable, and the drama of an epic.

A coming-of-age story about Eugene Gant, a restless and energetic character whose passion to experience life takes him from his small, rural hometown in North Carolina to Harvard University and the city of Boston.