David Gange’s release

David Gange’s new book *Afloat* was published on Thursday, April 23, with literary agent Georgina Capel using release-day social media to boost the launch. (georginacapel.com) William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins UK, lists the book as *Afloat: Small Boats, Swell and Seaspray* and describes it as a 304-page hardback published on April 23, 2026. (harpercollins.co.uk, books.google.com) Capel’s agency page says the book follows Gange across North Atlantic coasts and islands, from Ireland and the Shetlands to Greenland, Baffin Island, Newfoundland, the United States and the Caribbean. (georginacapel.com) The book’s central subject is small rowed or paddled boats and the coastal communities built around them. HarperCollins says those craft outnumber decked ships by “at least fifty to one,” even though maritime history is usually written around larger vessels. (harpercollins.co.uk) That focus fits Gange’s academic work. The University of Birmingham, where he is an associate professor in history, says his research centers on coastlines, oceans and the communities that rely on them. (birmingham.ac.uk) It also extends the terrain of his earlier book *The Frayed Atlantic Edge*, which HarperCollins says traced a kayak journey along Atlantic Britain and Ireland. That book later became a joint winner of the 2019 Highland Book Prize, according to the University of Birmingham. (harpercollins.co.uk, birmingham.ac.uk) William Collins presents itself as a nonfiction list that publishes books aimed at making sense of the world, placing *Afloat* inside a catalog built around history, science and nature writing. (corporate.harpercollins.co.uk) On publication day, that kind of book often depends on trade and peer amplification as much as store listings. Thursday’s post from Capel put Gange’s book into that release-day stream, tying the launch to a publisher, an author brand and an existing readership for Atlantic travel and coastal history. (georginacapel.com, harpercollins.co.uk)