Maggie Murphy is a 17-year-old orphan when she embarks on the Titanic with her aunt Kathleen and 12 others from Ballysheen, Ireland, bound for a new life in America. For Maggie, the departure is bittersweet: she longs to see her aunt's beloved Chicago, but her heart is in Ballysheen, and with one Séamus, in particular. One of very few steerage passengers to survive the sinking, Maggie vows never to speak of Titanic again, a vow she keeps until her 87th year when she shares her story with her grieving great-granddaughter, Grace.
Okay, so Hazel Gaynor's plot had potential, and the story isn't bad, but more than anything I tired of the dual narrative approach. I may have felt differently if I hadn't just encountered this device in The Sandcastle Girls, but even there I commented that I would have preferred more of the original/historical story and less of the modern intrusion. I will say for Gaynor that her approach did not feel as forced as that of Chris Bohjalian.
That said, I rather like Maggie. Gaynor gives her plenty of spirit and pluck, and succeeds in making her feel like the same person whether she is 17 or 87.I read this book quickly, although admittedly there were pages I skimmed - not many and not often - particularly when the dual narratives felt tiresome but I wanted to know how Maggie's story would end. Other than simply surviving the wreck, that is, since that part was rather obvious.
I believe this is the first fictional account I've read of the Titanic, and for that reason alone, was interesting to read. This is necessarily and entirely different accounting of the disaster than Steve Turner's very good but rather narrow, The Band that Played On: The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians Who Went Down with the Titanic. If you're in the mood for a good, quick, historical fiction with highly likeable characters - and can accept the occasional less-than-stellar prose or storytelling device - by all means, add this to your beach list.
Three stars.
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