TWELVE years ago Edith MacGill was enjoying Boxing Day by kayaking with her loved ones in the Indian Ocean.

The former Prince Henry's Grammar School student and her boyfriend, Matt, had been on the Thailand leg of a round-the-world trip.

Edith's mother, Sarah, and sister, Alice had flown from their Burley-in-Wharfedale home to meet up with the couple over the festive period, and they had all enjoyed a merry Christmas.

On the morning of December 26, 2004, when the quartet took to the waves, everything had seemed calm and normal.

But then something happened that was to change 25 year old Edith's life forever.

The Boxing Day tsunami that day, triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, saw sudden, devastating waves of up to 15 metres high hit the shores of the surrounding countries.

The tsunami killed an estimated quarter of a million people - including Alice and Sarah.

Edith and Matt, somehow, survived despite being repeatedly thrown around under water and into rocks.

After years of dealing with the grief and shock, Edith decided she needed to write about the experience.

The result is a newly published graphic-novel style book, Rinse, Spin, Repeat, which is attracting rave reviews.

Introducing her work on the website of crowdfunding-focused publishers Unbound, she said: "I use simple illustrations and concise text to unfold my experience of the devastating tsunami, and my thoughts and feelings through the confusion of the following hours and days when I was faced with pain, death and uncertainty.

"In the final chapter I reflect on the impact that the tsunami has had on my life over the last ten years."

Rinse, Spin, Repeat uses deceptively childish illustrations and captions to tell the story of what happened on that fateful day and afterwards.

It ends on a note of hope, showing photographs of Edith's mother and sister and of her own family.

Speaking to the Wharfedale & Aireborough Observer about the positive reception the book has received, Edith - now married to Matt, with the surname Fassnidge - said: "I could never have anticipated just how happy I feel to have Rinse, Spin, Repeat published.

"Although hard at times, it has been an overwhelmingly positive process documenting my experience and, importantly, preserving the memory of my mum and sister.

"It’s so wonderful to receive positive reviews and I’m thrilled that a percentage of the book sales is going to Music for Alice, the charity that I set up in memory of my sister."

Rinse, Spin, Repeat: A graphic memoir of loss and survival, by Edith Fassnidge, is on sale now online.

More details about the charity set up in Alice's memory can be found at musicforalice.org.uk .