Miracle on the Hudson: The Extraordinary Real-Life Story Behind Flight 1549, by the Survivors

In this heart-stopping tale, the passengers of the Hudson River crash landing evoke in compelling detail the terrifying explosion as both engines were destroyed, the violent landing on the river, and the thrill of their rescue from the wings and from rafts. Jay McDonald, a thirty-nine-year-old software developer, had survived brain-tumor surgery just two years earlier and now faced the unimaginable. Tracey Wolsko, a nervous flier, suddenly became other people's rock: "Just pray. It's going to be all right." As the plane started sinking, Lucille Palmer, eighty-five, told her daughter to save herself: "Just leave me!" Featuring moments of chaos and stoicism, fortuitous mistakes and quick instincts, "Miracle on the Hudson "is the chronicle of one of the most phenomenal stories of recent years, one that could have been a nightmare and instead became a stirring narrative of heroism and hope.