First published in 1929, Cradle of the Deep was the bestselling book that became ascandal!
In 1923, Joan Lowell was an aspiring writerand rising silent film star in Hollywood. Young, beautiful, and talented, shewas adored by all. Then she published her autobiography in 1929: a rip-roaringmemoir of a young girl growing up on a schooner with her hearty sea captainfather and a crew of salty sailors and the incredible and death-defyingadventures she had traveling the world.
Except-none of it was true!
Born in 1902 in Berkeley, California as HelenWagner to a middle-class family. Yes, her father was a Pacific Ocean merchantschooner captain. And yes, he took Joan-and her mother-on a 15-month sailingadventure when she was a girl. After knocking around odd jobs in San Francisco,young Helen moved to Los Angeles to take acting lessons and began
