Based on the handwritten journals of John Newton (1725-1807), this story spans his prodigal youth, his storybook romance, his days as a slave-ship captain, his dramatic conversion during a raging storm at sea, and his final climactic years as a man committed to Christ. This book examines Newton's complex friendship with the poet William Cowper, his inspiring effect on the young Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade, and the writing of such immortal hymns as "Amazing Grace" and "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds". John Pollock is the author of "Wesley", "Shaftesbury", "Wilberforce", "Gordon" and the "The Master".