Unsinkable: My Untold Story

Laumann's story captivated Canadians and many others when she overcame a horrific injury and five operations on her right leg just weeks before a courageous bronze-medal performance in rowing, single sculls, at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. But her memoir goes far beyond that well-known chapter of her life with an examination of her upbringing in Mississauga, Ontario. In particular, she discusses her difficult mother: "it was surviving her wrath that made me hard enough to compete," she says. But readers also journey through her battles with anorexia and depression, her failed marriage and a second, current relationship, which includes an autistic child. At varying times brutally honest and inspirational, the book could have become mired in self-pity, but the story rises above. As she confesses her faults and sins, the book seems to have been cathartic, a way of coming clean and opening up as a means to better understand herself. If anything, the book lacks details on the Olympics and the rowing World Championships themselves, making it more of a spiritual journey than an athletic one. As Laumann puts it, "even after all this time, my story still feels like a miracle." Agent: Michael Levine, Westwood Creative Artists. (Jan.)