Copy of PICKRELL.TSUNAMI.png
Copy of PICKRELL.TSUNAMI.png

TSUNAMI

$19.95

On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that tore across the Indian Ocean. In a matter of hours, entire coastlines were transformed and more than 230,000 lives were lost across fourteen countries, from Indonesia and Sri Lanka to India, Thailand, the Maldives, and East Africa. Those who survived carry vivid memories of where they were when the water came. Countless others were never able to tell their stories. Tsunami is one woman’s account of that day and the long, uneven aftermath that followed.

On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra unleashed a tsunami that tore across the Indian Ocean. In a matter of hours, entire coastlines were transformed and more than 230,000 lives were lost across fourteen countries, from Indonesia and Sri Lanka to India, Thailand, the Maldives, and East Africa. Those who survived carry vivid memories of where they were when the water came. Countless others were never able to tell their stories. Tsunami is one woman’s account of that day and the long, uneven aftermath that followed.

Praise for TSUNAMI

“Impressionistic, sharp, and riveting, Tsunami is a memoir about personal survival and global tragedy.”

FOREWORD REVIEWS

“This is just a day with its hours to fill, like any other. Until the ocean leaves, draws so far back there is nothing left except fish without water.” This is what it is to experience, via rich and unhurried prose, the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami through the eyes of a western visitor to Thailand’s Rai Leh peninsula during the disaster. In her unforgettable account, Pickell provides the wider picture and never forgets her relative good fortune, especially in her lyrical, expansive epilogue.

Patricia Bidar, author of Pardon Me for Moonwalking


“Pickrell’s writing is lyrical and brilliant—a powerful account of her experience in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Her beautifully crafted vignettes create a mood filled with desperation and fear. It is impossible to read her narrative and not empathize with the trauma she so clearly conveys. The silent ambulances—a reminder of our mortality and the devastating impact of natural disasters—will haunt me for a long time.”

Elizabeth Jaeger, author of Stolen: Love and Loss in the Time of COVID-19

 

About LEEANN PICKRELL

LeeAnn Pickrell’s debut collection Gathering the Pieces of Days was published in 2025 by Unsolicited Press. She is also the author of the chapbook Punctuated (Bottlecap Press, 2024). Her work has been widely published online and in print and in the anthologies Coffee Poems, A Gathering of Finches, and A Moment Like None Other. LeeAnn is also the managing editor of Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche and has worked as an editor for more than thirty years. She writes LeeAnn’s Punctuated Poetry on Substack. She lives in the Bay Area of California with her partner and two fabulous cats and has an MFA from Mills College.

 

  • Genre: Fiction / Novel

    ISBN: 978-1-969421-04-4

    Publication Date: AUGUST 11, 2026