The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor
Publication date: April 1st, 2014
Pages: 384
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
A voyage across the ocean becomes the odyssey of a lifetime for a young Irish woman...
Ireland, 1912...
Fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Seamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again.
Chicago, 1982...
Adrift after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what comes next. When her great-grandmother Maggie shares the painful secret about the Titanic that she's harbored for almost a lifetime, the revelation gives Grace new direction--and leads both her and Maggie to unexpected reunions with those they thought lost long ago.
Inspired by true events, The Girl Who Came Home poignantly blends fact and fiction to explore the Titanic tragedy's impact and its lasting repercussions on survivors and their descendants.
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Review:
I receive a physical copy of this book from the publishers for participation in a blog tour and in exchange for an honest review.
I developed an obsession with the story of the Titanic early on in my life. Surprisingly, my hunger for details of suck a tragic occurrence in history did not come from a fondness for Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. I read a book called A Night to Remember ages ago and became so intrigued I started reading anything I could find on the subject. I don't know if it was out of morbid fascination or simply my heart aching for some semblance of happiness to come out of a nightmarish event. When I read the synopsis for this book, it immediately sparked my interest in the Titanic once more. I had not read any sort of historical fiction books on the subject in ages and wanted to reacquaint myself with it. Naturally, this made the decision to read this book a no-brainer.
The book opens on a young, seventeen year old girl departing her life in Ireland for a trip across the Atlantic to live in Chicago with her two aunts. Her mother had just died and instead of leaving young Maggie all alone, her aunt Kathleen decided to take her back to America with her. However, Maggie longs to stay in the home where her mother lived and died and her heart found love in a young man named Seamus. Hesitantly, Maggie goes vowing to one day return to her home and her sweetheart.
The story is told in alternating viewpoints. It skips from Maggie being the main focal point back in 1912 to her great-granddaughter, Grace, in 1982. Grace has just lost her father and is home from college helping her mother. After her father's passing, Grace has lost her fire for journalism. That is until Maggie finally confides in her about her experience on Titanic.
Maggie relives her life changing tragedy for her great-grandmother. She tells her of the young steward she met who saved her life, the girls she traveled with from her hometown, and her experiences with the social class differences aboard the ship. All the while, Maggie regales Grace with how often her mind turned to Seamus and how deeply she cared for him. Through reliving the past, Maggie learns to let go and Grace learns to hold on to the things she cares about.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I am not ashamed to admit I sobbed my eyes out through over half the book. I wanted to reach through the pages and the sands of time and rescue those poor people from the frigid waters of the Atlantic. I could physically feel Maggie's longing for Seamus as well as her devastation of that terrible night. The book is slow moving simply because of the fact that you already know what is going to happen and are anxious to get there quickly. But the devil is in the details and the details are poetic and needed to give the story depth.
The Girl Who Came Home will have you laughing, crying, gasping, and raging all in a matter of a page flip. It is a fictional account of one of the most devastating events in history with a romance or two thrown in. Titanic and the passengers who died during it's sinking should never be forgotten.
