Book description
"I was to stand trial for my life. I was twenty-two years old. I
had been married for ten weeks and a widow for six." In the summer
of 1914, the Empress Alexandra, a magnificent ocean liner, suffers a
mysterious explosion on its voyage from London to New York City. On
board are Henry Winter, a rich banker, and his young new wife, Grace.
Somehow, Henry manages to secure a place in a lifeboat for Grace. But
the survivors quickly realize it is over capacity and could sink at any
moment. For any to live, some must die. As the castaways battle the
elements, and each other, Grace watches and waits. She is a woman who
has learned the value of patience - her journey to a life of glittering
privilege has been far from straightforward. Now, she knows, it is in
jeopardy, and her very survival is at stake. Over the course of three
perilous weeks, the passengers on the lifeboat plot, scheme, gossip and
console one another while sitting inches apart. Their deepest beliefs
about goodness, humanity and God are tested to the limit as they begin
to discover what they will do in order to survive. The Lifeboat is a
page-turning story of moral dilemmas, and also the moving and haunting
story of Grace, a woman as unforgettable and complicated as the story
she recounts. Charlotte Rogan graduated from Princeton in 1975. She
taught herself to write between working at various jobs and bringing up
triplets. Her childhood vacations with a family of sailors provided
inspiration for THE LIFEBOAT, her first novel. She lives in Connecticut,
US.
