The glass ocean: a novel

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English

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From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Forgotten Room comes a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century—two deep in the past, one in the present—to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.

May 2013Her finances are in dire straits and bestselling author Sarah Blake is struggling to find a big idea for her next book. Desperate, she breaks the one promise she made to her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother and opens an old chest that belonged to her great-grandfather, who died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915. What she discovers there could change history. Sarah embarks on an ambitious journey to England to enlist the help of John Langford, a recently disgraced Member of Parliament whose family archives might contain the only key to the long-ago catastrophe. . . .

April 1915Southern belle Caroline Telfair Hochstetter’s marriage is in crisis. Her formerly attentive industrialist husband, Gilbert, has become remote, pre-occupied with business . . . and something else that she can’t quite put a finger on. She’s hoping a trip to London in Lusitania’s lavish first-class accommodations will help them reconnect—but she can’t ignore the spark she feels for her old friend, Robert Langford, who turns out to be on the same voyage. Feeling restless and longing for a different existence, Caroline is determined to stop being a bystander, and take charge of her own life. . . .

Tessa Fairweather is traveling second-class on the Lusitania, returning home to Devon. Or at least, that’s her story. Tessa has never left the United States and her English accent is a hasty fake. She’s really Tennessee Schaff, the daughter of a roving con man, and she can steal and forge just about anything. But she’s had enough. Her partner has promised that if they can pull off this one last heist aboard the Lusitania, they’ll finally leave the game behind. Tess desperately wants to believe that, but Tess has the uneasy feeling there’s something about this job that isn’t as it seems. . . .

As the Lusitania steams toward its fate, three women work against time to unravel a plot that will change the course of their own lives . . . and history itself.

More Details

Contributors
Johansson, Vanessa Narrator
Maarleveld, Saskia Narrator
Pressley, Brittany Narrator
White, Karen Author, author., aut
Williams, Beatriz Author
ISBN
9780062642462
9780062642479
9780062865007
9780062642455

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Published Reviews

Library Journal Review

Williams (Summer Wives), Karen White (Dreams of Falling), and Lauren Willig (The English Wife) have collaborated on a historic mystery follow-up to their The Forgotten Room. The ill-fated passenger liner RMS Lusitania links two women from 1915, Caroline and Tessa, with present-day Sarah. Narrators Vanessa Johansson, Brittany Pressley, and Saskia Maarleveld draw from their acting and voice-over experiences to employ a range of vocal textures and techniques that convey mood, accents, and tone as this historic mystery unfolds in three alternating voices: Southern belle and socialite Caroline, whose industrialist husband has become withdrawn; Tessa, a forger who hopes this job will be the one that allows her to leave her life of crime; and down-at-heel Sarah, a 21st-century author who is looking for her next big book idea. VERDICT Recommended for those who love a mystery, especially one rooted in the past. ["Admired in historical and women's fiction circles, these best-selling authors create an absorbing tale interlaced with espionage, secrets, romance, and historic detail. Both witty and urbane despite the ultimate tragedy, this is a beautifully rendered retrospective. For all historical fiction devotees": LJ 9/1/18 review of the Morrow hc.]-David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Library Journal Reviews

Williams (Summer Wives), Karen White (Dreams of Falling), and Lauren Willig (The English Wife) have collaborated on a historic mystery follow-up to their The Forgotten Room. The ill-fated passenger liner RMS Lusitania links two women from 1915, Caroline and Tessa, with present-day Sarah. Narrators Vanessa Johansson, Brittany Pressley, and Saskia Maarleveld draw from their acting and voice-over experiences to employ a range of vocal textures and techniques that convey mood, accents, and tone as this historic mystery unfolds in three alternating voices: Southern belle and socialite Caroline, whose industrialist husband has become withdrawn; Tessa, a forger who hopes this job will be the one that allows her to leave her life of crime; and down-at-heel Sarah, a 21st-century author who is looking for her next big book idea. VERDICT Recommended for those who love a mystery, especially one rooted in the past. ["Admired in historical and women's fiction circles, these best-selling authors create an absorbing tale interlaced with espionage, secrets, romance, and historic detail. Both witty and urbane despite the ultimate tragedy, this is a beautifully rendered retrospective. For all historical fiction devotees": LJ 9/1/18 review of the Morrow hc.]—David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal.
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