Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2016
240 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
A beautifully written, breathtakingly honest, unsentimental, and profound memoir from one of the UK's most popular journalists.
On a hot, still morning on a beautiful beach in Jamaica, Decca Aitkenhead's life changed forever. Her four-year-old son was paddling peacefully at the water's edge when a wave pulled him out to sea. Her partner, Tony, swam out and saved their son's life - then drowned before her eyes.
When Decca and Tony first met, a decade earlier, she was a renowned Guardian journalist, profiling leading politicians of the day; he was a dreadlocked criminal with a history of drug dealing and violence. No one thought the romance would last, but it did - until the tide swept Tony away, plunging Decca into the dark chasm of random tragedy.
Exploring race and redemption, privilege and prejudice, All at Sea is a remarkable story of love and loss, of how one couple changed each other's lives, and of what a sudden death can do to the people who survive.
"Starred Review. Aitkenhead's tightly written memoir looks beyond commonly held truths, taking readers deep into the morass of human emotion and leaving them gasping for air." - Publishers Weekly
"But in the end, it is the author's resilience after her lover's death - which she describes with poised eloquence - that renders the narrative especially satisfying. An unsentimental yet affecting memoir." - Kirkus
"This book is impossible to forget: I finished it in one sitting - in a paralyzed, stunned, empathetic trance ... its emotional exactitude makes it remarkable ... what makes the book powerful is that it reminds one that grief is about transformation, the loss of old moorings, a new permission to put the heart first - a sea change." - The Guardian (UK)
"Aitkenhead has an incredible gift for writing. Events are set down almost immediately, and her handling of the tragedy - despite her raw torment - is so clear and so carefully paced, it's astonishing ... Her ache for honesty is searing at times but the overwhelming truth is that Aitkenhead has produced a work of art." - Evening Standard (UK)
"An extraordinary memoir, a beautifully written account of life, love and what is left of both after tragedy ... All at Sea is utterly heartbreaking but it is also a brave and honest account of grief and its aftermath that will stay with you long after you finish the last page." - The Daily Express (UK)
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Decca Aitkenhead is an award-winning journalist who conducts interviews with leading figures in public life for the Guardian. She lives in rural Kent with her two young sons.
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