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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Based on the true story of the sinking of the steamship Pulanski in 1838, sailing from Savannah to Baltimore via Charleston, and told in dual timelines with fictional characters including a modern day history teacher/museum curator who lost her BFF due to a drunk driver, and two women travelling on the steamship, one with her abusive husband, their baby and slave nursemaid, and her aunt who was travelling with her brother and his wife to help care for their children and get away from the Savannah heat for the summer.
Everly has survivor’s guilt, not to mention feelings for her BFF’s fiancé who was also her friend, and has pretty much shut Oliver out of her life in recent years. Still Oliver approaches Everly to curate an exhibit based on the now found wreckage and its artifacts, since he knows her interest in the ship’s fate as her grandfather had told her fascinating tales about one of the women on board the doomed “Southern Titanic” when she was a child. Everly sets out to investigate what happened to the passengers, specifically Lilly, which passengers survived, and how their lives were affected by the sinking of the ship.
Lilly and Augusta are both women dealing with similar and vastly different issues living in the South in the 1800s, which come to a head during the disaster on the ship. They both have choices to make and they have to live with the repercussions, one has the potential to forge a new life and one must learn to make survival mean something more than just surviving, which has a very strong connection with the modern storyline with Everly.
I truly enjoyed both timelines. I loved both the adventuresome tale of the survivors and the investigation and adventure into the depths to find the artifacts. There is a lot to discuss with the book from this time period and location, from history to women’s issues and slavery. I think this will make an excellent book club pick.
Everly has survivor’s guilt, not to mention feelings for her BFF’s fiancé who was also her friend, and has pretty much shut Oliver out of her life in recent years. Still Oliver approaches Everly to curate an exhibit based on the now found wreckage and its artifacts, since he knows her interest in the ship’s fate as her grandfather had told her fascinating tales about one of the women on board the doomed “Southern Titanic” when she was a child. Everly sets out to investigate what happened to the passengers, specifically Lilly, which passengers survived, and how their lives were affected by the sinking of the ship.
Lilly and Augusta are both women dealing with similar and vastly different issues living in the South in the 1800s, which come to a head during the disaster on the ship. They both have choices to make and they have to live with the repercussions, one has the potential to forge a new life and one must learn to make survival mean something more than just surviving, which has a very strong connection with the modern storyline with Everly.
I truly enjoyed both timelines. I loved both the adventuresome tale of the survivors and the investigation and adventure into the depths to find the artifacts. There is a lot to discuss with the book from this time period and location, from history to women’s issues and slavery. I think this will make an excellent book club pick.
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Write a book about a shipwreck and I am all in. I don't know what it is about that kind of tragedy but it intrigues me. The storytelling is wonderful and makes me want to visit Savannah.
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My first historical fiction read in quite a while, and it was a great read. Told in two timelines (by three narrators), it follows the story of the “Titanic of the South.” Well done.
This book was a great read. It is a historical fiction book backed up by research and the true events.it captured me from the first pages. It puts you in the middle of the action during the shipwreck and during the search for answers. First time reading this author and I will search it more books.
Loved the audio so much.
Beautiful historical fiction about something I knew nothing about. (Always a favorite subject of mine.
Beautiful historical fiction about something I knew nothing about. (Always a favorite subject of mine.
3.5 stars. I have always been very interested in the story of the Titanic, so seeing as the real- life maritime disaster of the Pulaski is dubbed the Titanic of the South, I felt completed to read this story. Told from 2 timelines, the past- which shares the story of the ill-fated voyage of the Pulaski in the late 1830’s off the coast of the Carolinas, and modern day- which tells the story of Everly, a young woman dealing with an emotional crisis after the death of her longtime best friend who is invited to create a museum exhibit for the newly discovered sunken ship. A big focus in this novel is survivor’s guilt. The passengers who see the death of the fellow voyagers as the ship explodes and sinks as well as Everly who is wrought with guilt over the death of her friend for a long time after. Much of the historical part of the book is based on facts and I truly appreciate that. This was the part of the book I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I didn’t love the dual timeline and when reading the modern day parts I just wished to go back to the past. I felt a much deeper connection to the people who were passengers on the ship and their harrowing story of survival. The events happening with Everly felt more fake and overdone as she works alongside the fiancé of the friend she’d lost. I could have done without that part of the book and wish more time was focused on the past and included more of the background of the ship’s passengers prior to their boarding the ship. I appreciate the author bringing to light this catastrophe and a little of the history of the upper class and their slaves. Good story overall, just wished it focused more on the history aspect. My first book by this author.