Overall: 2.5-3 star review
Summary:
Her twin brother gets a job on the Titanic. She is a stowaway. She wants to leave England to be a circus performer in America. But Chinese cannot enter America.
Before leaving the ship in America, she needs to get her brother on board with her plan, audition and get hired by the circus in order to stay in America.
We all know Titanic’s fate though….
My thoughts:
I felt like the pacing was slow. It was basically 90% of nothing then the Titanic sank, but even that was fast. The book just was so slow that I caught myself dreading to pick it up again.
The characters seemed flat. They were not complex at all. I felt like I did not really get to “k know” any character. They try to have a pair of siblings reconnect pm the ship, but it just felt so daunting to read about it. Also, the harebrained plan of the main character for her future seemed a little off. Circus, fashion designer, backstory-nothing seemed to go with the story at all.
I found a lot of the details in the novel not to be historically accurate. This typically do not bother me unless slang words, but in this book I just could not get past these details.
I liked the history behind the Chinese passengers from the Titanic. The note from the author explaining this was fascinating. But that was only like 3 pages of the book.
A compelling and beautifully written story that transports you through time. Absolutely loved it!