The Lifeboat

The Lifeboat (2012) by Charlotte Rogan. In 1914, on the eve of World War I, a passenger ship sinks and one of the lifeboats contains our protagonist, Grace Winter. At 22 years old, she is both a newlywed and a widow, her husband having been killed when the ship sank. The Lifeboat tells the story of her survival after the disaster in an overcrowded lifeboat. Framing the story of events in the lifeboat itself is the story of Grace's trial, after being rescued, for helping push a man out of the boat. It makes for absorbing reading, although I found it a little claustrophobic. Grade: A-