Cast aside by his family at an early age, abandoned and left to fend for himself
in the woods of Washington State, young Joe Rantz turns to rowing as a way of e
scaping his past. What follows is an extraordinary journey, as Joe and eight oth
er working-class boys exchange the sweat and dust of life in 1930s America for t
he promise of glory at the heart of Hitler's Berlin. Stroke by stroke, a remarka
ble young man strives to regain his shattered self-regard, to dare again to trus
t in others - and to find his way back home.
