Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Lifeboat

The Lifeboat
The Lifeboat
Author: Charlotte Rogan
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Hardcover
c-squared avatar reviewed on + 181 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7


This is a "what if" book*:
What if another ocean liner mysteriously sank a few years after The Titanic?
What if several lifeboats full of people escaped and remained unrescued for weeks?
What if three of the women threw another survivor overboard and were tried for murder upon their return to civilization?

Grace Winters is one of those women, newly married and subsequently widowed. She's a tricky one...an unreliable narrator relaying the events of her time in the lifeboat and her trial. She admits to earlier manipulations (or at least omissions of truth) and claims to not remember some of the events on the boat (which is understandable, considering the conditions). She looks out for herself in a time when women had few legal rights.

While Grace does raise some interesting questions about faith, justice, and memory, this isn't a life-changing read. It's not particularly deep or exceptionally suspenseful, but it was an enjoyable read.

*I shelved this book as "historical" in the sense that it takes place during a specific period of history, not that the events portrayed actually happened.