The stories and backgrounds of these women were well-written and captivating. It is full of individual anecdotes about specific women who were travelers or employees on these ocean liners – from the rich and famous, to the women escaping bad conditions to improve their lives. Transatlantic travel opened interesting and varied opportunities for women specifically, and sometimes impacted society as a whole. 🛳 This book is about ocean liners and the women who traveled and worked on them. Martin's Press for the digital galley to review. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and St. It needed a bit of a stronger link between the stories but many were informative or interesting. The history of the liners and the role of women were interesting but some stories got a bit too tangential and even repetitive. The translation of the cost of the upper class and lower class to today's money really puts this into perspective. The life on the lower level was cramped as it is explained that those passengers usually made only one way voyage for a better life on the other side of Atlantic and of course they couldn’t afford anything better. The life for elite was very glamorous with all the opulence on the upper level. With it, came different class levels on the ship.

Some traveled for leisure, some as crew, some to reinvent themselves on the other side of Atlantic. Then it brings the stories of different women from different backgrounds. I enjoyed learning a bit more about how the companies changed the approach to gain women's buy in again post Titanic sinking. As more and more female passengers were making voyages, the need for female crew grew. This non-fiction begins with the history of ships and the history of male dominated crew changing over time.

Sian evans maiden voyages