At twelve years old, he ran away from everything he knew. What followed was a life nobody could have invented.
Born into grinding poverty in a mountain village on the island of Crete, Manny grows up barefoot, hungry, and certain of one thing - he was not meant to stay. When his father's violence finally pushes him past the point of no return, twelve-year-old Manny slips out in the night and talks his way onto a Merchant Marine ship bound for the open sea.
What follows is an extraordinary journey across decades and oceans. Working as a cargo hand and engine fixer, Manny earns the trust of a captain who becomes the father he never had. When the 1967 Arab-Israeli War blocks the Suez Canal, his ship reroutes around the tip of Africa and across the Atlantic. When the vessel finally enters the St. Lawrence Seaway and docks in Detroit, Manny makes a split-second decision - he jumps ship with nothing but the clothes on his back.
In Detroit's Greektown, the boy who never learned to read finds work - first in the coney island diners, then on the line at a Chevy plant, where pure mechanical genius carries him further than any classroom ever could. He also finds a woman seven years his senior who will change everything. Hidden in her parents' basement from Immigration agents, Manny begins a new fight - not for survival this time, but for the right to belong.
What follows is a decades-long pursuit of the American dream, shadowed by a wife's struggles, a mother slowly dying an ocean away, and siblings who betray the family in ways that cut to the bone. Through it all, the memory of that ship captain - the father figure Manny never had - guides him like a compass. And woven through every chapter is an unshakeable thread of faith: the belief that hope isn't wishful thinking. It's an anchor.
Inspired by the true life story of Anna Broome's father, Hope Is My Anchor is a sweeping, deeply human story of resilience, belonging, and what it costs - and what it means - to finally come home.
For readers who loved Unbroken, The Kite Runner, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Read alongside the prequel, A Light of Hope - coming June 2026.