I am currently reading The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan. It is about a young girl, Grace, who, in 1914, elopes with Henry Winters, the love of her life. They decide to move to America from London to escape Henry's judging parents. Henry takes Grace aboard an elegant ocean liner. However, halfway there, there is an explosion on the ship, and it sinks. Henry sacrifices his life to put Grace on a lifeboat, which is immensley overcrowded. There is a brutal power struggle between a sailor, Mr. Hardie, and a powerful maternal figure.
I'm not very far into the book, but from what I can tell, Grace is unable to choose a side. Mr. Hardie is very experienced at sea. He seems to know what he's doing. However, he is very cruel, and when there is a small drowning boy in the water, he whacks him in the head with an oar until he drowns. She is also drawn towards Mrs. Grant, a major maternal figure, who seems to calm people down. She wants to take more people into the lifeboat. But both the reader and Grace know that Mr. Hardie is right, that if they took any more people in, the lifeboat would sink and they would all die.
To survive, Grace has to make the choice of who to trust, of who she thinks should lead the 39 survivors of the shipwreck.
Aw this sounds like a really cute book! Also a little bit insane. How do you think the book will end?
ReplyDeleteNice post! It sounds like an interesting book, and kind of like the Titanic. Do you think there are any similarities or differences to the Titanic in this book? Who do you will survive and not?
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