Often regarded as the greatest sea rescue in history, Alive on the Andrea Doria!, authored by survivor Pierette Domenica Simpson, is this month’s Pageturners’ book selection.

Faculty, staff, students and the general public are invited to participate in a rare opportunity to meet the author of this riveting story when she visits Schoolcraft’s Livonia campus Tuesday, March 25 at 1:30 p.m. in Room W210 of the VisTaTech Center. Simpson will welcome guests and share her first-hand account of the collision of two luxury liners, the tragic loss of lives and the courageous rescue efforts that saved so many others.

Simpson, a young girl embarking on a new life in the United States, was aboard the Andrea Doria with her grandparents. They were nearing the end of their voyage from Italy when the ocean liner was rammed by another ship, the Stockholm, near Nantucket in 1956. As an eyewitness, Simpson provides the reader with gripping vignettes told by the poor immigrants, wealthy travelers, members of the clergy and crew who were aboard on that fateful night.

In addition to the personal stories of despair and elation, Simpson presents scientific data, photos, diagrams and charts reconstructing the events of that night that reopened the “cold case” that for decades surrounded the tragedy.

Alive on the Andrea Doria! is available at a 40% discount in the Student Activities office on the Livonia campus or at the Radcliff Center in Garden City. In addition to the session with Simpson on March 25, Pageturners’ will hold three other discussion sessions about the book on Monday, March 24, 6:30-7:30 p.m. and Wednesday, March 26, 12 noon – 1 p.m. in L116, and Thursday, March 27, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Radcliff Center library.