In a breathless tick-tock narrative, investigative journalist Jeanne Carstensen chronicles the dramatic events of October 28, 2015, when a boat meant for a few dozen people but carrying hundreds of refugees capsized in the Aegean Sea off the coast of the Greek island of Lesvos. This tragic shipwreck resulted in the largest loss of life in a single day of the refugee crisis, bringing the ongoing emergency into sharp focus. In recounting the 24 hours during which the event unfolded, Carstensen unpacks the many difficult themes surrounding the refugee crisis, telling the story through the testimonies of the desperate refugees as well as of the smugglers who put their lives at risk and the heroic islanders who tried to rescue them, even as their government, and the EU, failed to act.

Carstensen, who was watching these terrifying events unfold from the shore, has spent almost a decade following up on the survivors' stories, enriching the narrative with details while bringing an analytical and sympathetic eye to a complex piece of our living history. This is that rare book where a journalist's well-honed skills and sensibility combine seamlessly with content in the recreation of a tragedy that in less gifted hands would be a drama without hope. A Greek Tragedy is the story of a humanitarian crisis viewed through a single, terrible day; it is also the story of many days, many unnamed people, and the people who saved them and is truly a story of our times.