{"product_id":"a-guide-to-open-water-virginia-eubanks-9780374611798","title":"A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving: Lessons on Love, Care, and Survival: A Memoir","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA spirited, wise, often hilarious, profoundly moving story of one woman's efforts to survive caregiving, trauma, love, and the systems seemingly set up to fail us.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eOnly if you are a very able swimmer trained in open-water rescue should you approach drowning victims . . . Reach with a rope or branch, rowout and offer the drowning person an oar. Do not get in the water. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut also: \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNo one survives the wilderness alone.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne night, Virginia Eubanks received the kind of news we all fear. Her beloved partner had been attacked, brutally beaten just steps from their house. In the weeks, then months and years that followed, they faced a cascade of setbacks: police disinterest, suspended health insurance, inadequate medical care, lost income, lost friends, endless paperwork, and a serious case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Then, a second case. In her time tending to him, Eubanks had developed what is known as \"collateral\" PTSD, common among caregivers but rarely discussed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA reporter and an activist, Eubanks turned to reliable sources to figure out how to heal: scientists, therapists, trauma theorists, social movements. But it wasn't until she happened on an old lifesaving manual that she found practical advice that actually helped. Inspired by these lessons, she signed up for a series of classes: kayak selfrescue, winter survival 101, map and compass, bushwhacking, wilderness first aid, lifeguarding. In a memoir as disarmingly funny as it is quietly wise, Eubanks draws lessons in kinship from these experiences, her research, and interviews with everyone from neuroscientists to forest rangers. The result is a genuinely moving, hopeful, darkly funny story of two people caught in their own kind of wilderness, trying not just to survive but to truly care for each other. Built from cataclysmic loss and tenacious love, \u003ci\u003eA Guide to Open Water\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eLifesaving \u003c\/i\u003echallenges readers to reconsider the networks of care that sustain our lives, reminding us that no one survives the wilderness alone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Virginia Eubanks\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0374611793\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780374611798\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Farrar, Straus and Giroux\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/11\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d","brand":"Virginia Eubanks","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47520212123903,"sku":"9780374611798","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_3b315756-a316-49fd-8ce2-111f155d1f4f.jpg?v=1762884212","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-guide-to-open-water-virginia-eubanks-9780374611798","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}