HarperCollins lands 'remarkable' stories of RNLI rescues

HarperCollins has landed a book by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution recounting some of its most dramatic rescues.

Lydia Good, HarperNonFiction editorial director, negotiated world rights directly with the RNLI. Surviving the Storms will publish on 11th June 2020.

The synopsis explains: “Since its foundation in 1824, The RNLI has provided a lifeboat service, lifeguards and safety education for almost 200 years and has saved over 142,500 lives. Like generations of selfless lifesavers before them, today’s volunteer crew members are ready to rescue around the clock, all powered by passion, talent and kindness. Surviving the Storms is a collection of first-hand accounts of some of the most dramatic rescues carried out by RNLI lifesavers around our coastlines. Recounting the most remarkable rescues from the last twenty years, these are stories of extraordinary courage and compassion at sea, providing a rare insight into the life-or-death decisions the RNLI have to make when battling the forces of nature and saving lives.”

Good said: “The RNLI is one of the UK’s best-loved charities, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them on this fantastic book in the run up to their 200th anniversary in 2024. Surviving the Storms gives a voice to the incredible volunteers behind the RNLI rescue missions; each story is one of bravery, jeopardy and an unrelenting human compassion to battle the forces of nature and to save every life—celebrating ordinary people doing the truly extraordinary.”

RNLI content manager Rory Stamp added: “The RNLI’s crews and lifeguards never cease to amaze me—these are people who will drop everything to save someone they have never met, in conditions that would frighten most of us. In this book, we hear some of their most memorable rescues from the past 20 years. From people trapped in wave-battered caves to fishermen aboard sinking boats miles out to sea. But we also hear tales from their own lives. They reveal the sources of their determination to save others, whatever the storm. And that—in these stormiest of times—makes it a book that inspires courage and hope.”