NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST - One woman's searing account of losing her entire family in a tsunami. "The most exceptional book about grief I've ever read... As unsparing as they come, but also defiantly flooded with light... Extraordinary. " --Cheryl Strayed, The New York Times Book Review In 2004, at a beach resort on the coast of Sri Lanka, Sonali Deraniyagala and her family--parents, husband, sons--were swept away by a tsunami. Only Sonali survived to tell their tale. This is her account of the nearly incomprehensible event and its aftermath.