Mark Helprin has written a new novel: The Oceans and the Stars. It is, as the publisher says, “a sea story, a war story, a love story.” It is a magnificent story. And I have talked with Helprin about it in my Q&A podcast: here.

I will also discuss the book in a future article or two. A Helprin novel always provokes many thoughts within a reader.

It was interesting to read the book as our military forces fought in the Red Sea. This is what they do in the book. Our Navy, with its sailors and SEALs, is at work — in the Red Sea.

By the way, the book is dedicated to the U.S. Navy. It is, in a sense, a hymn to the Navy.

Helprin’s sailors and SEALs fight nation-states — Iran, in particular — and pirates alike. As the book progresses, they fight on land, in Somalia, pursuing hostage-takers and murderers.

I would like to quote from an Associated Press report, dated January 22:

Under the darkness of night, in the roiling high seas off the coast of Somalia, members of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team 3 began to climb aboard an unflagged ship that was carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen.

As Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram began climbing the ladder onto the boat, he slipped, falling into a gap the waves had created between the vessel and the SEALs’ combatant craft. As he went under, Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers jumped into the gap to try to save him, according to U.S. officials familiar with the incident.

It was an instinctive act, honed by years of training, one teammate going to another’s aid.

What we owe these men — men such as these . . . Well, words are barely adequate. Without these men, our free society would be finished in a week.

Anyway, to listen to Mark Helprin is both instructive and moving. Again, here.