The True Story of a Family's Love and the Will to Survive
by Hester Rumberg
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2009
272 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
In 1993, Judith and Michael Sleavin and their two children set out to live their dream: to sail around the world. But one night, a freighter off the coast of New Zealand altered its course by a mere ten degrees. And changed everything. After surviving forty-four hours in the water, with a back broken in several places and paralyzed below the waist, Judith miraculously survived. Doctors would later say she suffered one of the worst cases of post-traumatic stress syndrome ever documented. News of the collision made headlines around the world, but, distraught, Judith never talked to the press. Her body was broken, and so was her soul.
Twelve years later, Judith turned to her best friend, Hester Rumberg, and asked her to write what was too painful for her to write. The result is a gripping, unbelievable yet true story of one family’s love, of profound loss, and of a remarkable woman who decided to live when others might have decided otherwise. But always it is a stunning account of survival, a meditation on the strength of friendship and community. It is a universal tale of how any of our lives might be unexpectedly altered, how we might have to change what we hope for, and how we can move forward in times of tragedy.
"Absorbing tale of a catastrophe at sea and its aftermath." - Kirkus Reviews.
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After many years, Judith successfully sued the Korean company that owned the ship that crashed in her families. She used the settlement money to create a foundation dedicated to improving maritime safety, plagued by unenforceable regulations and loose governance of offshore waters.
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