Accidental Lives

How two intrepid women travelled the world, ran an unconventional PR company and set up a charity in India 

Fast-moving, entertaining, funny and inspiring, Accidental Lives is a book about tragedy turned to triumph, ‘sliding door’ life changers, chance encounters and a glorious friendship. It tells the extraordinary story of how a young man’s tragic death in a poor South Indian fishing village led to the setting up of a charity which has transformed thousands of young lives.

Sylvia Holder is the founder trustee of the Venkat Trust, the education charity she set up in memory of Venkat, a fisherman’s son she met when on an Indian beach. She is a previous winner of The Times Sternberg Active Life Award and was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2019 New Year’s Honours. She lives in Hove and travels frequently to the Trust’s operation in Kovalam, South India.

Born and educated in Scotland, Lindsay Swan is a trustee of the Venkat Trust and a frequent visitor to Kovalam. For more than twenty years, she was Sylvia Holder’s partner in their eponymous London public relations consultancy. She is involved in a number of therapeutic gardening projects and, as a member of the Independent Monitoring Boards, helps ensure the humane and just treatment of those held in custody. She lives with her husband in west London.