THE GIRL IN THE LIFEBOAT

Two sisters survive the sinking of the Titanic but face further danger when they return to England in this historical melodrama/mystery that poses the possibility of a nefarious reason for the grand ship’s rapid descent.

Poppy and Daisy Melville paid for their passage on the Titanic by securing positions as first-class stewardesses. They are the eldest of the four daughters of the Earl of Riddlesdown, an objectionable man ruled by his passion to produce a male heir. The two sisters have fled his home and are headed for California, where the impulsive 18-year-old Daisy is determined to become a Hollywood movie star. Nobody in Riddlesdown knows they have set sail for America. Both young women are rescued by Cunard Line’s Carpathia. But the reckless Daisy committed one final impetuous act while onboard the Titanic that will put her life in jeopardy when the surviving crew is forced to return to England. Meanwhile, back in London, Harry Hazelton, a former regimental officer and spy—injured in India after being attacked by a wild boar—is hired by the sisters’ uncle, the Bishop of Fordingbridge, to investigate the disappearance of his nieces. Add in two additional survivors—Ernie Sullivan, an Australian working as a Titanic fireman, and Alvin Towson, an American gambler—each with secret objectives, and there is plenty of material in the interactions among these characters for an intriguing drama. Hodgetts seamlessly weaves together records of survivor testimony and conclusions drawn by the British inquiry into the disaster with both her fictional characters and historical figures. The novel’s most riveting pages are the vivid opening scenes on the water, where Poppy sits in Lifeboat 14 watching the ship go down bow first and listening to the screams of the passengers pleading for help in the frigid Atlantic (“The starlight, cold and merciless, shone down on the people struggling in the water, and their desperate flailing produced a maelstrom of white phosphorescence”). But the story of the aftermath and coverups by the White Star Line and the British government are equally stunning and disturbing. It is a compelling backdrop to an engrossing tale that is at heart a traditional drama about life and love.

An engaging and unsettling addition to the Titanic-themed fiction category.