The Titanic Sisters

Falvey (The Girls of Ennismore) delivers the enchanting saga of two Irish sisters who board the Titanic with dreams of new lives in New York City. In 1911, a letter arrives at the Sweeney home in County Donegal from a late cousin’s husband, requesting a governess for his daughter in New York. At 18, Delia Sweeney longs to escape, but her mother chooses Delia’s older sister, Nora. However, their reticent father secures Delia her own berth on the Titanic and work in New York as a maid. On their voyage, Delia wakes Nora after the ship begins to sink, but the sisters are separated in the ensuing chaos. Both survive, and, once in New York, Delia pretends to be Nora and takes the governess position. Meanwhile, Nora wakes in a New York City hospital without any memory of her identity and is taken in by a wealthy Irish suffragette. As Delia worries about the truth being discovered, Nora contends with a sexual predator in her new household. Falvey does a good job capturing the girls’ excitement at leaving Ireland for New York, and of showing Nora’s gradual recovery of her memories. This new chapter of Titanic lore is worth plunging into. (Jan.)