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The Lifeboat: A Novel |
The narrator, aptly named Grace, appears on the first pages and right away, we know a few important plot points. We know that Grace survived on a lifeboat after her ship - like the Titanic two years prior - goes down. We also know that she is now on trial for a murder that took place during the ensuing ordeal. But here's what we don't know: how reliable is Grace as the tale-teller? Is she coldly capable of taking whatever actions are necessary to survive? Or is she simply a shell-shocked bystander, susceptible to the slightest suggestion?
In flashbacks, we learn about the harsh reality of lifeboat passenger survival, under the direction of one of the sea fellows named Hardie. The name is likely no accident: like Thomas Hardy's characters, Hardie and the rest of the survivors are overwhelmingly and overpoweringly in the grip of fate and chance. "None of us are worth a spit," Grace ruminates. "We were stripped of all decency. I couldn't see that there was anything good or noble left once food and shelter were taken away."
Indeed, as the characters are forced to endure worse and worse conditions - decreasing rations of food and water, the unexpected squall, the weakening of body and spirit, the emotional horrors of wondering about loved ones - they also form alliances that are crucial in determining who will live and who will die. It quickly becomes evident that some must be sacrificed for the majority to live since the lifeboat bears more people than it can safely carry.
In flashbacks, we learn about the harsh reality of lifeboat passenger survival, under the direction of one of the sea fellows named Hardie. The name is likely no accident: like Thomas Hardy's characters, Hardie and the rest of the survivors are overwhelmingly and overpoweringly in the grip of fate and chance. "None of us are worth a spit," Grace ruminates. "We were stripped of all decency. I couldn't see that there was anything good or noble left once food and shelter were taken away."
Indeed, as the characters are forced to endure worse and worse conditions - decreasing rations of food and water, the unexpected squall, the weakening of body and spirit, the emotional horrors of wondering about loved ones - they also form alliances that are crucial in determining who will live and who will die. It quickly becomes evident that some must be sacrificed for the majority to live since the lifeboat bears more people than it can safely carry.
