Painter and long-distance swimmer Sally Friedman has crafted a dry-eyed and moving account of a terrible tragedy in this memoir: the day she was to depart for England to attempt the most fabled achievement in marathon swimming, the crossing of the English Channel, her devoted husband and inspiration, Paul Carter, was killed in a traffic accident in New York. Rather than a soap opera full of uplifting messages, Friedman has produced a sharp, often funny tribute to her husband and to the dedication to a lonely ordeal that kept her training in icy lakes--and that kept her sane after her husband's death. This is a beautiful story that has "movie rights" written all over it.