Grace Winter is twenty two years old and on trial for her life. The events she is on trial for occurred on a lifeboat she was on after the ship, the Empress Alexandra, exploded  one fateful summer night in 1914 and sank in the Atlantic. “Married for ten weeks and a widow for over six,” Grace’s life has taken a terrible, unexpected turn.

Told through flashbacks, we slowly learn from Grace what happened after the terrible explosion. She would never have survived if her husband Henry had not forced her onto Lifeboat 14 along with  Mr. Hardie, a member of the crew, and then walked away never to be seen again. Once the boat was launched, if it had not been for Mr. Hardie who took command and drafted people to take the oars and row away from the sinking ship they might have been caught in it’s treacherous vortex. While grateful to be on the lifeboat, Grace and the others soon realize that it is too full and riding precariously low, so even as they come across people in the water, they cannot take them in without jeopardizing themselves. Soon they realize they are short on water and the emergency rations are running low and still there is no sign of rescue or the possibility of reaching land.

We never know how we will react to extreme circumstances. I think we all hope that we would act in ways we could live with later, but as Rogan points out we are not always able to bring our best selves forward when our lives are in jeopardy or we feel threatened. Grace’s calm and seemingly forthright narration takes us deep into the human psyche and helps us see that the choices are not always so clear and that deprivation, starvation and uncertainty can exact a terrible toll on our ability to think or feel clearly.

This was a page turner. skipping back and forth between the trial and Grace’s account of what happened on the lifeboat, kept me on the edge of my seat. Rogan has captured the complicated relationships in the boat, and it’s various personalities, but mostly we see through Grace’s eyes the disintegration of civility when only fear and scarcity surround you.

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 0ut of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to:  Marian, Lauren, Keith and Ken

Books Study Worthy: Yes

Read in ebook format.