Lifesaving

By Judith Barrington

Subjects: English Poets, Death, psychological aspects, Biography, Death, Parents, Lambda Literary Awards, American Poets, Lambda Literary Award Winner, Psychological aspects, LGBTQ biography and memoir, Lesbians, Poets, biography, Lesbians, biography

Description: The cruise ship Lakonia departed Southampton on December 19, 1963, on a Christmas voyage to the Canary Islands. Three days later, north of Madeira, a fire broke out. In the ensuing confusion and panic, a small group of passengers, including the author's parents, were left stranded without lifeboats and drowned. Barrington, just nineteen, left England and went to live in a small town in northern Spain. Lifesaving is the story of those three years, of the people, the places, and of a young woman struggling to become an adult in the shadow of sudden and staggering loss.