The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor

 The Last Lifeboat

 by Hazel Gaynor


‘Life has been reduced to fragments – a few inches of space, a dipper of water, a sliver of food. She inhabits minutes and hours now, anything bigger impossible to grasp. And yet she must imagine a time beyond the lifeboat; another life, a second chance. Without that, without hope, she may as well slip into the water now and let it carry her away.’

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor was published on 8th June 2023 by Harper Collins.

My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.




Synopsis

September 1940. In the immediate aftermath of a U-boat attack on an evacuee ship, one lifeboat of terrified survivors endures a fierce storm in the Atlantic. May 1940. Four months earlier, two very different women – Alice King, a teacher, and Lily Nicholls, a young widow- confront life-changing choices as Britain prepares for German invasion and the devastating Blitz bombing raids begin. In Kent, Alice sees a chance to play a part in the war and volunteers as an escort on the ‘seavac’ ships; in London Lily faces the agonizing decision of whether to keep her children with her as the Blitz begins, or send them to safety in Canada. The dramatic events of one fateful night in the mid-Atlantic, and the eight unimaginable days that follow, bind the two women together in the most devastating way......




My Review

Before you start this gripping book you will need to get yourself a box of tissues to hand. This has to be the most moving book that I have read for a long time, made even more so because, even though it is a work of fiction, it is very closely based on the true story of the sinking of SS City of Benares, which set sail from Liverpool in 1940.

Hazel cleverly tells the story from two perspectives; Alice , the ex- school teacher  and librarian, who lives with her insufferable mother who is always dissatisfied with what Alice does, so in 1940 during The Blitz, she signs up to be an escort on the ships taking the seavacs to Canada, America and Australia. Then there is Lily, who after a great deal of mental anguish , signs her two children Georgie and Arthur onto the evacuee programme.

The story follows both women as the tragedy unfolds and the battles they both face to survive the unforgettable disaster. The fortitude and determination of these two women is the centre point for the whole book.

This is a narrative that skilfully moves between the feelings and anguish of both women over the eight days as the disaster unfurls, and the images you build up of them, plus the situations they found themselves in will stay with you for a long time.

From both a historical perspective of a story that must never be forgotten and a human perspective of strength and determination, this is a book that is an incredible 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟read and is one that will keep a place on my bookshelf as well as me recommending it as worth a place on every one's book list.

You will cry, you will feel the anguish, despair and horror, but above all you will feel the hope and determination of humanity as it struggles to survive against all the odds.



About the Author

Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, and Irish Times bestselling author of historical fiction, including her debut The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter was shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown award, and The Bird in the Bamboo Cage was shortlisted for the 2020 Irish Book Awards. She is published in twenty languages and twenty-seven countries. Hazel lives in Kildare with her family.

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