The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

The Lifeboat
by Charlotte Rogan

It is 1914, two years after the sinking of the Titanic, and a mystery explosion sinks the cruise liner The Empress Alexandra. Lifeboats are lowered, brimming to over-capacity with survivors. Grace Winter is separated from her husband, Henry, and finds herself in one of the lifeboats. So begins a diary of events told from the viewpoint of Grace in a letter to her solicitor while she is in prison, for a crime we are not fully aware of but can guess from the start. The book explains quite well the huge rollercoaster of emotions one must go through if you're floating at sea with little food or water, wondering if you're ever to be rescued. The physical and mental changes are well described, and you find yourself at one with Grace while she deliberates the meaning of survival, guilt, innocence and justice.