This was a great historical novel! I love books that take place on ships like this because I find there are far too few. Definitely inspiring to my own work. Well-researched too, in my opinion. Would definitely read more from this author.

You just never know whom you might encounter on board a ship. Some might surprise you. Some are fearful.

In July, 1939, Lilian Shepherd boards the Orontes in Essex, England, bound for Australia, to enter domestic service. "Today, a new life begins," she thinks to herself. Little does she realize how new and different life will be, beginning with her 5 weeks on the ship, when Lily is transported into a world in which she doesn't belong, but which she immensely enjoys.

As Lily begins to acquaint herself with the passengers at her dining table, and with the gala couple Eliza and Max Campbell, the passengers remain unaware of world events, including Hitler's invasion of Poland.

This is a wonderful snapshot of life on the ocean, where everybody can put on the persona of anybody, and who's the wiser??

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Atria Bxooks. pub date 01/09/18

I couldn't stick with it. I read well over half, but I kept setting it aside because it couldn't keep my interest. The premise was intriguing, but I didn't care about the characters. Rating is based on the portion I read.

1939: Lily Shephard is on her way to Australia to work as a domestic. On board she meets some entertaining characters. There is a wealthy couple, Eliza and Max, who prefer to be below decks than their own deck. There is Edward who develops an attraction to Lily, and his sister who appears to be overprotective, Maria who is a Jewish refugee and then there is George, a fascist who is really an unlikeable fellow.

Lily finds herself caught up in the world that she would normally not be in. Dress balls, cocktail parties, a world that takes her to Naples, Cairo and Ceylon. All is well until it isn't, meaning that Maria disappears and it is thought that she jumped overboard. Lily also begins to see that Eliza and Max are not who they appear to be and George is sounding more dangerous in his beliefs as time goes on and his fascination with Lily proves to be dangerous to her. Who are these people that Lily has befriended? It seems that they are all running away from their past lives and secrets. Then there is a murder that has everyone reeling.

This novel starts out seeming to be one of a romantic voyage for Lily and a new life for her. Based on the diaries that the author found that belonged to Joan, a friend of her mothers. The diaries detail the voyage that Joan took to Australia. In it Joan told a myriad of details that included, the clothing, the price of things, who she met etcetera. I found this to be interesting in that Rachel Rhys was able to tell a story that contained a lot of real facts from a real person.

I really enjoyed this book and read it in two sittings! A historical fiction novel that had the world on the brink of war.

I had a hard time getting into this novel. The novel is very well-written. However, the beginning was very slow and repetitive. There were also many characters to keep track of. I also could not get into Lily. She seemed very distant and cold. Once the story start moving, it kept me interested. I recommend this novel for fans of The English Wife.

"Servants and socialites sip cocktails side by side on their way to new lives in this “thrilling, seductive, and utterly absorbing” (Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author) historical suspense novel in the tradition of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile and Ken Follett’s Night Over Water.

The ship has been like a world within itself, a vast floating city outside of normal rules. But the longer the journey continues, the more confined it is starting to feel, deck upon deck, passenger upon passenger, all of them churning around each other without anywhere to go...

1939: Europe is on the brink of war when young Lily Shepherd boards an ocean liner in Essex, bound for Australia. She is ready to start anew, leaving behind the shadows in her past. The passage proves magical, complete with live music, cocktails, and fancy dress balls. With stops at exotic locations along the way—Naples, Cairo, Ceylon—the voyage shows Lily places she’d only ever dreamed of and enables her to make friends with those above her social station, people who would ordinarily never give her the time of day. She even allows herself to hope that a man she couldn’t possibly have a future with outside the cocoon of the ship might return her feelings.

But Lily soon realizes that she’s not the only one hiding secrets. Her newfound friends—the toxic wealthy couple Eliza and Max; Cambridge graduate Edward; Jewish refugee Maria; fascist George—are also running away from their pasts. As the glamour of the voyage fades, the stage is set for something sinister to occur. By the time the ship docks, two passengers are dead, war has been declared, and Lily’s life will be changed irrevocably."

They didn't even have to compare it to Death on the Nile for me to want to read this book!

The style of this book did not entirely match the description. It is more of a romance with a little bit of drama -- it's not really a suspenseful spy novel.

The description of Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys sounds like a story of adventure, courage, and history coming to life as World War II looms. The book description also puts forth the mystery of two deaths during this voyage. Unfortunately, the book becomes more a snapshot of a diverse group that come together in close quarters for a finite period of time. Sadly, both the slow-moving plot and the rather insipid main character make this not the book for me.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/03/dangerous-crossing.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

I enjoyed parts of this book, mainly the time frame and setting, but I felt like I kept waiting for something to happen that never did.

As far as historical fiction novels go, this one is unique. It follows a young woman named Lily as she embarks on a ship to Australia to become a domestic on the brink of World War II. This book is very character driven, as Lily meets people she wouldn't normally socialize with in her daily life, all who are harboring secrets. I really enjoyed this read.

Dangerous Crossing, a historical novel from author Rachel Rhys set in 1939, follows the journey of a young woman, Lily Shepherd, from England to Australia, on board the Orontes cruise liner. Readers are treated to engaging descriptions of various ports along the way and a microsomal view of society in the passengers of the ship.

While reading Dangerous Crossing, I found myself equally intrigued and bored. The characters are seductive in that they pull the reader in without actually moving the story forward. Travelling in “tourist class” or middle class, Lily finds herself making fast friends with brother and sister, Edward and Helena Fletcher. Together, they meet Max and Eliza, a sociable couple from first class that Lily observed prior to embarkation in a compromising position. These people, along with her cabin mates, Audrey and the stern Ida, the overbearing George Price, and Maria Katz, an Austrian Jew, running from the Nazis, shape Lily’s life for the next 5 weeks in unexpected ways.

I loved the idea of an ocean crossing and a young woman setting out on her own, but found Lily to be overly dramatic. Though typical for a woman of the late 1930s, she seemed overly concerned with falling in love and seemed to do so quickly with Edward, while developing a strange attraction for the larger than life Max. Edward draws Lily into a social foursome with Max and Eliza which even she recognizes quickly is a dangerous choice. While there are some wonderful scenes in ports around the world, the majority of Dangerous Crossing is made up of various social activities and Lily making the same bad choices again and again. While I understand that bad decisions are normal for her age and station, she (and the story) became difficult to relate to as she didn’t seem to learn from her mistakes.

Aside from Lily’s journey, Dangerous Crossing really showcases the Orontes as a microcosm of society. There is class distinction, racism, sexual assault, talk of war, infidelity, homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, death of a child, murder and so on in the 5 weeks it takes the ship to sail to Australia. While all are important, juggling so many within the confines of the story didn’t do any of them justice and towards the end just felt as though the author was trying to see how many hot topics she could include.

Despite all this, the characters, especially Max and Eliza, left an impression.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for honest feedback.

Dangerous Crossing is an historical mystery set at the outset to World War II. I was invited to review it by Atria Books and Net Galley; it was published earlier this month, and you can buy it now.

Our protagonist is Lily Shepherd, a young woman in need of a fresh start. Her family’s scant resources are tapped in order to send her via cruise ship to Australia, where she is to enter domestic service. On board she meets Max and Eliza Campbell, wealthy, obnoxious, and carrying some skeletons of their own. We have Maria, a Jewish refugee, along with George, a Nazi sympathizer. Helena and Edward are adult siblings, and there’s romantic tension crackling between Lily and Edward. Along the way are exotic ports of call such as Cairo, Egypt and Ceylon; these are places Lily would never have hoped to see under ordinary circumstances, but fate surprises her.

Rhys does a fine job of managing historical details, and in particular the social stratifications that existed in British society during this time period and the limitations they imposed. The ending has more than one interesting twist. On the down side, I find the figurative language to be stale at times and the relationships overwrought in places. I felt that the story could do with some tightening up. However, fans of a traditional mystery will find this is a fine mystery to curl up with on a chilly winter night. The varying perspectives of the cruise’s passengers dovetail in many ways with those we see today, and many will notice an eerie familiarity in these characters from an earlier time.

Recommended to those that enjoy traditional historical mysteries.

This book was a bit of a mystery and it was set on a 1939 cruise ship. It is not an 'edge of your seat' kind of mystery and I put this book down several times for something else, but I kept coming back to it. I had to find out who the woman was that was being escorted off the ship in handcuffs!

My thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for this advanced readers copy.

DANGEROUS CROSSING by Rachel Rhys is not the "cozy, closed door" mystery novel that I had been anticipating. It is certainly suspenseful, though, and offers an opportunity to discuss assumptions and prejudices about class, religion and gender. Told over several weeks in 1939, this historical fiction describes the ocean voyage of Lily Shepherd, a young girl traveling to Australia on an assisted passage program in order to take up a domestic service position. Onboard she meets Maria, a Jewish refugee, Edward, recovering from tuberculosis and his sister, Helena, as well as George, a bigoted fascist, and Eliza and Max, wealthy socialites. I had difficulty feeling much affection for any of the characters, but Lily has numerous adventures, even sees the pyramids, and experiences dramatic revelations. By the time the journey ends, two people are dead and the reader learns the surprising identity of the suspect police detained in the prologue. 3.5 stars

1939

Lily Shepherd has just sailed from Essex England to Sydney Australia aboard the Orontes. Although she is worried about leaving her family, she knows it is only for two years. When she arrives, she will be working as a lady’s maid. She meets her cabin mates, Audrey and Ida, who used to be chambermaids. Audrey is friendly but Ida appears to be a bitter person and not at all friendly.

At dinner, Lily meets a young man, Edward Fletcher, who is traveling with his sister, Helena. As they dine at the same table, they soon get to know one another, thus spending time with them and others she has met. Edward is appealing to her and she learns that he has has tuberculosis and is seeking a warmer climate.

Max and Eliza are from the first class section but enjoy coming down to the tourist section and spend time with them. Eliza is rather flamboyant and Max tends to drink too much. They both share a tragedy from their past. They have dinner parties onboard and port stops which allows them to visit other countries.

The large group gets along well but one, George Price, is an annoying man who tries to show affection to Lily which disgusts her. Trying to stay away from him becomes difficult at times.

War looms and many are worried about family back home. Lily observes how some of the people she has met are critical of others and some who appear to have secrets. The fact that everyone is in close quarters tends to lead to some anger and discontent at times. But when a big secret is revealed in a violent way, it is shocking.

I understand that this book was written from a true story. Even if that is the case, I didn’t find it very interesting. It is somewhat repetitive and I kept wondering what the point of the story is. However, it is informative of the social ways and ship travel of the time period so there is that.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Slow and not quite what I expected, but what an ending! The ending *almost* makes up for the slow journey to get there.
Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys is billed as an historical suspense novel, and I suppose in a way, that is true. It’s an historical setting, and once you read the authors note at the end (I don’t want to spoil it, but it shocked the heck out of me when I read it), you’ll get a bit more insight into the book. But, I hesitate to give the label of “suspense” to it. I found that there was almost nothing suspenseful about this book except for the ending. The mystery was such a slow build, that the majority of the novel is about Lily and her interactions with the people she meets on the ship. There are hints of Lily leaving England for a sad reason, but the mystery of her leaving never grabbed me. I didn’t really care why she was leaving. Was this because there wasn’t much information given about her decision? Or was there too much information? I’m not sure. I just never felt all that interested in the mystery of why she left.
Lily meets many people on the ship: siblings Edward and Helena, a glamorous married couple Max and Eliza, a Jewish woman fleeing Europe named Maria, and a Nazi sympathizer named George to name a few. I liked the characters, except for George, he was really rotten, but I never found them mysterious. In reading the synopsis, it makes the book sound as if there is mystery the whole way through, and this isn’t the case. There is zero mystery until someone disappears at 77%, and even then the disappearance felt like an afterthought. Now, I had some suspicions about the characters, like did so-and-so commit a crime, is another character hiding their identity, etc etc, but none of these suspicions made me feel like I was reading a suspense novel. They were just in the back of my mind as I read, and I never felt any overwhelming desire to find out the answers.
But then that wallop of an ending happened, which while I did have a few ideas hinting towards it, it still was surprising, and I enjoyed the book much more because of the strong ending. This is definitely a book for those who enjoy a slow burn, as I felt this was exceedingly slow up until the end, when everything comes together.
Another thing I’d like to point out is that I went into the book thinking that all of the scenes would be aboard the ship. I wasn’t paying attention to the synopsis where it mentions “exotic locations”, and we do get off the ship and visit many places, including Gibraltar, Pompeii, Port Said (to see the pyramids), and Ceylon, among others. I liked these glimpses of the shore, and it made the book feel a bit more open. Ships give me a claustrophobic feeling, and I was anticipating a book where no one can escape, and that wasn’t the case here.
So, while this was slightly different than I anticipated, and exceedingly slow, I did enjoy the ending. I enjoyed it even more after reading the author’s note at the end, and think that readers who enjoy a slow meander through a story would enjoy this. I’m just not sure I would label it suspense.
Bottom Line: A strong ending, but a slow journey to get there.

I love a good dose of mystery mixed in with my historical fiction, and Rachel Rhys (a pen name for a well-known British psychological suspense writer) delivers just that in her historical novel debut Dangerous Crossing as the story flashes ahead towards the story’s end when a mysterious woman wearing a green dress, hat, and shoes with an elegant fox stole draped around her shoulders (one that has been worn by several women passengers, so it could be anyone!) is taken away by the police from the luxury ocean liner the Orontes for some unknown crime. The stage is now perfectly set for you to wonder as you quickly turn each page towards the end- who is this mystery woman? What crime has she committed?  But it was not so much the mystery woman or the unknown crime that kept me reading even though that was certainly a question that I wanted an answer to, but it was the diverse and intriguing cast of characters aboard the Orontes that captured and held my attention!

The main protagonist in the story is Lilian (Lily) Shepherd, a young Englishwoman running from past mistakes and a love affair gone wrong when she was as a former housemaid. Because she wants a fresh start, she’s traveling to Australia for free through a government “assisted passage” scheme that’s recruiting young women in exchange for two years of domestic service. On board the ship, Lily meets and befriends several very interesting people that she normally would not because of social and ethnic barriers that are blurred since the ship is one huge, floating palace of intimacies. There are the siblings Edward and Helena Fletcher, the young Jewish woman Maria Katz, bigoted and hateful George Price, and the charming, yet very odd aristocrats Eliza and Max Campbell.

It is in these interactions with the characters that the real story begins to unfold since no one is really who they seem to be except for Maria, who is the most honest (and most anguished) character in the book. This is such an eclectic mix of characters that the twists and turns in the story really begin as you get to know each of them bit by bit over the 5-week voyage! They are all running away from something on this 1939 ocean voyage from England to Australia as Europe is on the brink of war with Germany, and it was each of their secrets, their interactions with each other, and the ensuing drama that made this such a dramatic and gripping read!

Rhys certainly knows how to tell a story, and I love her stunning descriptions of the ocean voyage and the off-ship locations. I felt that I was onboard the ship watching the sunset over the water or there in Ceylon and Naples or climbing the pyramids in Cairo. Another thing she captured well was the waiting and the unrestfulness that comes from waiting. Not just the tedium of waiting to get to Australia that the passengers experienced at times, but the waiting for news of what was happening back in Europe. The longer the trip, the sense of unrest grew among the passengers as they waited for news of war-had Hitler invaded Poland? Had England and France declared war against Hitler? With Jews onboard the ship and animosity against them by some of the passengers, Rhys captured the palpable undercurrent of hostility and the fear of the Jewish passengers who had no news of family and friends still in places like Austria and Poland. I think Rhys gave a realistic perspective of what it would have been like to be floating along the sea with minimum or and delayed interaction with the outside world, and it gave a different perspective to think about while reading.

There are some slow moments in the book in the beginning and again in the middle, which is why I gave the book 4 stars, but the ending is very suspenseful and if you love historical fiction, then I have no doubt that you will highly enjoy this brilliant book like I did. I look forward to more of Rhys historical fiction in the future!

**Thank you, NetGalley, Atria Books, and Rachel Rhys for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest and fair review. **

A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys is a full-length, standalone. historical fiction novel.
1939, in the face of war, Lily Sheperd boards a ocean liner to Australia and goes on a wonderful journey. She visits Naples, Cairo and Ceylon. But she has secrets.
She meets new friends who are also running from something.
A Dangerous Crossing is the story of love, secrets, hate, murder, darama and much more.
I love the pace of the book. The story is told in a single POV.
I give 4 stars. Thank you, Rachel Rhys.

Dangerous Crossing shows us a slice of life on a ship from England to Australia in 1939. Everyone seems to have a secret which draws them away from England. The author intimately introduces us to a handful of these passengers. War is looming and two are dead on the crossing. The book touches on Anti-Semitism, homosexuality and class differences. I found Dangerous Crossing to be an interesting read.