I got this hardcover at Barnes and Noble. It's a novel inspired by the saga of the Carpathia, the ship that came to the rescue of the Titanic's surviving passengers. The narrative switches between scenes on the Titanic - featuring Irish passenger Kate Connolly as the central character - and on the Carpathia, introducing its captain Arthur Rostron and illustrating his professional style in dealing with his crew.

Once the Titanic struck the iceberg, the two narratives become much more intense; the Titanic passengers struggle to survive, while on the Carpathia, Rostron is awakened by his desperate first mate, who informs him that their wireless operator - on the point of shutting off his radio for the night (at that time radio was quite new and not all ships maintained a 24-hour watch) when he received a distress call from Titanic - struck ice, sinking! Hardly able to believe this, Rostron nonetheless went to work at once, delivering a series of orders for everything from getting his ship to the scene as quickly as possible to preparing his crew and passengers to make room for the people he hoped to be able to rescue.

While the author has fictionalized some conversations and incidents, for the most part the book is taken from historical documents - letters, interviews, testimony at the inquiries. As I've read quite a lot about the sinking, this meant there wasn't much here that was new to me, but I did enjoy the presentation. And, as happens whenever I read about it or see one of the many filmed versions, the moment when Rostron and his Carpathia go to the rescue brings me to tears.

I left this book in the large "book nook" near the playground in the park, on this warm, breezy day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

** Released for the 2023 4 Elements challenge. **