Sisters of Fortune by Anna Lee Huber - As much as I enjoy historical fiction, I probably would not have picked up this book except that it's by one of my very favorite authors. Also, the cover is just stunning, so that helped! Reading stories about people who sailed on the Titanic and suffered such a great tragedy is just too uncomfortable for me, so it took me awhile to get started on this one, and as I neared the fatal moment for the ocean liner itself, I found it difficult because I knew that a good number of the characters I'd met in these pages would not survive. So . . . all that said . . .
The story focuses on a family from Winnipeg who had just finished a grand tour that included Egypt and Europe, and were sailing back home on the Titanic. There are three sisters―Flora, Alice, and Mabel Fortune―and their parents and brother. Flora and Alice are both engaged, with plans to marry when they reach home. Mabel is uninterested in a relationship, but wants very badly to attend university, while her parents remain opposed to this course of action. Of course, they interact with many other passengers on the Titanic and strike up some friendships among them. There are descriptions of the ship, its accommodations, and many details of the voyage woven throughout. The younger brother Charlie's exuberant interest in engineering and science provides a seamless way to include the characters talking about what the ship and its voyage were like in a fairly natural way.
Flora and Alice provide a contrast in character, and their expectations of the marriages awaiting them are quite different. Flora is the dutiful and serious older daughter, agreeing to marry according to convention, but beginning to question if there is something more available to her. She knows that she and her fiance do not have any real affection for each other, not the way Alice and Holden do. When Flora meets the dashing and wealthy Chess Kinsey and begins to feel joy and passion, she realizes she will have a bold decision to make if she wishes to embrace this developing romance. Alice has been somewhat coddled because of health problems, and she loves her fiance Holden, but the adventures and new experiences of traveling have raised doubts in her mind about whether she wants to simply settle down to a stolid and respectable life.
The third-person narrative makes use of each of the three sisters as viewpoint characters, and Chess is a fourth viewpoint character. This allows the experiences of the men and the women to be explored, and to my surprise, it was easy to follow and not distracting. When I started reading, I had assumed that the Fortune family was fictional and loosely based on real people that sailed on the Titanic, but at the end there is an author's note explaining that the family is very real, although relatively little is known about them.
From the publisher:
April, 1912: It's the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe―sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they've seen―magnificent castles and museums in Italy and France, the ruins of Greece and the Middle East―and contemplate the futures that await them.
For Alice, there's foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiance's plans for her return―a cossetted existence she's no longer sure she wants.
Flora is also returning to a fiance, a well-to-do banker of whom her parents heartily approve, as befits their most dutiful daughter. Yet the closer the wedding looms, the less sure Flora feels. Another man―charming, exasperating, completely unsuitable―occupies her thoughts, daring her to follow her own desires rather than settling for the wishes of others.
Youngest sister Mabel knows her parents arranged this Grand Tour to separate her from a jazz musician. But the secret truth is that Mabel has little interest in marrying at all, preferring to explore ideas of suffrage and reform―even if it forces a rift with her family.
Each sister grapples with the choices before her as the grand vessel glides through the Atlantic waters. Until, on an infamous night, fate intervenes, forever altering their lives.
By the same author:
The Anatomist's Wife,
Mortal Arts;
A Grave Matter,
A Study in Death,
A Pressing Engagement,
This Side of Murder,
As Death Draws Near,
A Brush With Shadows,
Treacherous Is The Night,
An Artless Demise,
Secrets in the Mist,
Penny for Your Secrets,
A Stroke of Malice,
A Pretty Deceit,
A Wicked Conceit,
A Perilous Perspective,
A Fatal Illusion
#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2024
©2008-2024 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/
This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
