Introduction by Jonathan Coe
Afterword by Steven J. Kellman
 
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A merchant seaman is the sole survivor when his ship is sunk in a battle in the South Pacific. Badly burned, he is stripped of every shred of identity and cast into the sea, naked, faceless, nameless. Rescued and lying in a Pearl Harbor hospital, he is mistakenly identified as the missing Lt. Ben Davenant by Davenant's wife. In the moment, the man decides to go along, to take on Davenant's identity, to return with her to California and take on his life.
 
And thus, this story may remind some readers of that of Don Draper in the TV series Mad Men. Indeed, it is a likely, largely forgotten, inspiration: a Don Draper before the Don Draper who wasn't Don Draper was (and wasn't) Don Draper. 
 
Out of print for decades, Mortal Leap by MacDonald Harris became a rare and coveted cult classic, a few remaining copies passed around from reader to reader. Now, we have made this remarkable book available for all again.
 
What does it mean to abandon one life completely and step into another in midstream? To step fraudulently into a marriage, a house, a way of life, all utterly new and unfamiliar? And what do you do when someone from your old life shows up?
 
"A masterpiece of existential fiction." -- Jonathan Coe