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Published Mar 2013
272 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Famed swordfish boat captain Linda Greenlaw faces her greatest battle with nature - a newly adopted teenage daughter.
Linda Greenlaw isn't a woman who shies away from a challenge - a nationally renowned swordfish boat captain made famous in the film The Perfect Storm, Greenlaw is also a bestselling author and a television celebrity. Through hard work and determination, she had created a life of peaceful independence, living on a rugged island off the coast of Maine.
Then came Mariah.
A troubled fifteen-year-old, Mariah arrives on the island to stay with her uncle, an island newcomer and seemingly normal guy. The entire community is rocked when it is revealed that Mariah has suffered terrible abuse at his hands, and the island comes together to rescue the teenager from further harm. Alone and at risk, Mariah needs a guardian and the island residents nominate Linda, who is not exactly the picture of maternal warmth.
A remarkably candid and tenderly funny memoir, Lifesaving Lessons follows this unexpected mother-daughter pair as they navigate their new life together, learning to trust themselves and each other and forge the loving family that neither of them knew they needed.
"A competent work intended to encourage others in similar situations, but will appeal most to fans of Greenlaw's previous Isle au Haut installment, The Lobster Chronicles." - Kirkus Reviews
"Greenlaw's memoir deftly chronicles her journey to motherhood, without whitewashing away the toughness of the trek or the joy she experiences along the way." - Publishers Weekly
This information about Lifesaving Lessons was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Linda Greenlaw's first book, The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat
Captain's Journey (1999), spent more than six months on the New York Times bestseller list. The Lobster Chronicles followed in 2002, All Fishermen Are Liars in 2004 and Seaworthy in 20011. She is the winner of the U.S. Maritime Literature Award in 2003, and the New England Book Award for nonfiction in 2004. Time Magazine called her 2005 Recipes From a Very Small Island, co-authored with her mother Martha Greenlaw, a "must-have cookbook".
Before becoming a writer, Linda Greenlaw was America's only female swordfishing captain, a career that earned her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm and a portrayal in the subsequent film. She is also featured on the Discovery Channel series Swords: Life on the Line.
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