Marrying above your social class can come with unexpected consequences, as Elinor Coombes discovers when she is swept into a fairy-tale marriage with the son of an aristocratic English family. She soon realizes that it was the appeal of her father’s hard-earned wealth rather than her pretty face that attracted her new husband and his family. Curtailed by rigid social rules that include being allowed to see her nanny-raised infant son for only moments each day, Elinor resigns herself to a lonely future. So a present from her father—tickets for the maiden voyage of a luxurious new ship called the Titanic—offers a welcome escape from the cold, controlling atmosphere of her husband’s ancestral home, and some precious time with her little son, Teddy.
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| February 2025; Ballantine Books; 978-0593973035 audio, ebook, print (384 pages); historical fiction |
The Lost Passenger has been sitting in my TBR for more than a year so by the time I picked it up to read, I had forgotten what it was about. Within a few pages, I knew exactly what it was going to be about.
Between the title and the mention of the Titanic, I knew that Elinor would use the sinking of the ship to change her identity (like Kate Winslet's character in the movie). If you loved that movie, then you should pick up this book.
I was hoping it would be like the television show Downton Abbey. And in some minor ways, it was.
The Coombes are a titled family with a large estate, but like most old families in the 1920s, they are discovering that they are living beyond their means. Instead of tightening their belts (or better managing the estate), they look for an heiress to marry their son. After all, who wouldn't want to be a Countess one day? Of course, the only ones with money are the ones they would rather not associate with: self-made men of business.
Elinor has grown up as a princess, not in title but in nurturing. Her mother died when she was 15 and her father indulged her, not in a bad way but in a way that didn't prepare her for the realities of 1920s women. The only thing she knows about romantic relationships is what she's read in books by Jane Austen and the Brontes.
Life is awful for Elinor after she marries, but it is so stereotypical that it felt like I was being beaten over the head with how bad it was for women in those times. I was like, "Can I just skip this part?" It wasn't enjoyable to read, and it made the novel feel like it was moving slowly.
I wish I could say it got better when they arrived on the ship. It did get a bit more interesting, but then again, there was so much stereotyping that the book just felt way too predictable.
I really wanted to like this book. Elinor is a sympathetic character. It just wasn't unique enough; it didn't shed light on anything new about the period. The plot was so predictable that I knew how it would end almost from the beginning. I wanted something a bit more original.
There are people plenty of people who love this book. It has a 4.25-star average on Goodreads. It just wasn't the book for me.
Buy The Lost Passenger at Amazon
Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.
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