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A review by bargainsleuth
Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh
4.0
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I enjoy a good dual timeline historical fiction novel, but as with other books with this sort of setup, I found myself favoring one timeline over another. Violet's character is based on a real person who happened to survive three maritime disasters: the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Brittanic. The other timeline involves a British woman named Daphne involved in special ops during World War II.
I was drawn to the story because of the tie-in to the Titanic disaster, but it surprised me that it only took up a small portion of Violet's story. With every job she takes that's onshore, she finds herself wishing to be back on the sea, Part of it is because she can make good tips and has a family to care for in an invalid mother and her younger siblings. A good portion of her story takes place during WWI when she's working as a nurse and the horrors she sees and worrying about her four younger brothers who all enlisted.
Daphne was an interesting character as was her time in special ops for the British forces in France, but I found myself skimming over those parts as I wondered the connection to Violet. It's not apparent until almost the end of the book, but even with that intrigue, I wanted to stay with Violet and find out more about her life.
While I thought the story was very good overall, I thought it could have been executed a little bit better. I did appreciate the author's notes at the end, explaining there was only so much information available about Violet and the rest was imagination.
I enjoy a good dual timeline historical fiction novel, but as with other books with this sort of setup, I found myself favoring one timeline over another. Violet's character is based on a real person who happened to survive three maritime disasters: the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Brittanic. The other timeline involves a British woman named Daphne involved in special ops during World War II.
I was drawn to the story because of the tie-in to the Titanic disaster, but it surprised me that it only took up a small portion of Violet's story. With every job she takes that's onshore, she finds herself wishing to be back on the sea, Part of it is because she can make good tips and has a family to care for in an invalid mother and her younger siblings. A good portion of her story takes place during WWI when she's working as a nurse and the horrors she sees and worrying about her four younger brothers who all enlisted.
Daphne was an interesting character as was her time in special ops for the British forces in France, but I found myself skimming over those parts as I wondered the connection to Violet. It's not apparent until almost the end of the book, but even with that intrigue, I wanted to stay with Violet and find out more about her life.
While I thought the story was very good overall, I thought it could have been executed a little bit better. I did appreciate the author's notes at the end, explaining there was only so much information available about Violet and the rest was imagination.