The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
In the summer of 1914, Grace elopes with Henry Winter in London, hoping to escape the disapproval of his wealthy family. When the elegant ocean liner carrying them home to America suffers a mysterious explosion, Henry sacrifices his own safety and secures Grace a seat in a lifeboat, which its occupants quickly realize is over capacity. For any to live, some must die. Adrift on the Atlantic, the weather deteriorating and supplies dwindling, the castaways scheme and battle, caught up in a vicious power struggle between a ruthless but experienced sailor and an enigmatic matron with surprising powers of persuasion. Choosing a side will seal her fate, but Grace has made her way in the world by seizing every possible advantage. As she recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met and considers the new life of privilege she thought she'd found, Grace must now decide: will she pay any price to keep it? The Lifeboat is a masterful debut, a story of hard choices, ambition, and endurance, narrated by a woman as complex and unforgettable as the events she describes.
Charlotte Rogan uses a deceptively simply narrative of shipwreck and survival to explore our all-too-human capacity for self-deception -- J M Coetzee The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go -- Emma Donoghue, Author Of Room The Lifeboat is a richly rewarding novel, psychologically acute and morally complexIt can and should be read on many levels, but it is first and foremost a harrowing tale of survival. And what an irresistible tale it is: terrifying, intense, and, like the ocean in which the shipwrecked characters are cast adrift, profound -- Valerie Martin, Winner Of The Orange Prize For Property What a splendid book. It rivets the reader's attention, and at the same time it seethes with layered ambiguity. It's beautifully controlled and totally believable -- Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize Winner Of Wolf Hall Characters that haunt the imagination for days ... All kinds of social and moral questions are raised. This fabulous first novel is almost unbearably exciting - you'll gulp it down in a single sitting -- Kate Saunders The Times Extraordinary ... Gripping narrative ... A magnificently layered book with echoes of Joseph Conrad, Lord of the Flies and the Ancient Mariner ... It is that rare thing - a book that is as compelling as it is profound -- Daisy Goodwin Sunday Times
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.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781844087525 |
| ISBN 10 | 1844087522 |
| Title | The Lifeboat |
| Author | Charlotte Rogan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Year published | 2012-03-29 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Prizes | Long-listed for Guardian First Book Award 2012 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |