Remarkable book about the women and children who left behind when the Titanic sunk. A new perspective on the tragedy and reminder that every tragedy has waves and networks of people that bear the scars for a long time. A great read. Well-researched and well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

I always love reading about the Titanic, so I was pleased to be offered the chance to read this book. Perhaps the format was not the best at the start; it lists the names of those who died so on Kindle it was a long lot of swiping. I have read through the list before, and would have preferred to see it at the end. Then we get to the meat of the book, and it was a really fascinating and often sad look at an angle not considered very often; what happened to those left behind. Of the event itself so much is known, but the small stories that have so much meaning to the families are equally sad. It wasn't something I'd read before, and I was interested in the new information.

This book will appeal to any Titanic enthusiast, and definitely is a stand out in that it contains previously unknown information for me. Five stars.

The Titanic and the City of Widows it Left Behind by Julie Cook
Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publish Date: 31 March 2020

Star Rating 4/5

Like most people the story of the Titanic is a fascination for me. And if I'm honest, I'm not sure why exactly, as there are other ships that have sank and then have been discovered beneath the waves but it's the Titanic that lives in my imagination. To discover a new book on the ill-fated ship, but rather, coming from a new perspective – that of the widows left behind in Southampton, was a great find. Not only did these strong women have to deal with the loss of their husbands and the father of their children, but they were also left in a financially insecure world with the Wall Street crash approaching. They lived in a time of social upheaval, there was the Coal Strike and the suffrage movement in swing.

These are sad stories of the already poor families that lined up at the docks of the White Star offices to check the list of survivors. It pulled at my heartstrings, the treatment they received at the hands of the White Star Line was shocking especially the successful widows who received help but were constantly monitored to make sure the relief was used befittingly.

I liked how the author included her own great-grandfather and his widow, it was a beautiful personal touch. However I found the repetition in the book difficult.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Pen and Sword, for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Princess Fuzzypants here: There have been a myriad of books written about the doomed ship Titanic, both histories and fiction. According to the author, no one has delved into the lives of the women and children left behind by the crew who perished in the tragedy. The author has a very personal reason for writing their tales as her great-great grandfather died in the sinking. He worked in the hot bowels of the ship keeping her going. While there is some question exactly where he was at the time as his shift was about to come in when she struck the iceberg, there has been a family legend of how he gave up his chance of survival to help an elderly man into a boat.
Whether the story is fact or fiction or a combination of both, it is understandable how the family and other families like theirs needed something to help them make sense of the loss of the breadwinner and loved one. The plight they suffered right afterwards was both brutal and devastating from not knowing who lived and who died to the even more abject poverty thrust upon them until the charities and fund raisers were able to compensate them, at least to some degree.
The story of her family is one of grit, strength and determination. They survived and thrived while others perished. It seems class made a huge difference in both life and death. If not for her great-great grandmother Emily, the outcome would have been vastly different. This is a story packed with emotion. It makes for an impactful read.
Four purrs and two paws up.

Interesting premise and well researched. The writing didn’t do it for me. Lots of repetition and it had the feeling of being not so much a book as a series of vignettes strung together with no concern for flow - more like a printed website than a cohesive book.

I found this book interesting as it felt different from other Titanic books. I overall enjoyed this book and found it an interesting premise.

A really interesting read a look at the widows who were left behind after the tragedy of the Titanic.The widows who no longer had a wage earner supporting them a look at lute survivors who suffered whose lives would never be the same.#netgalley#penn&sword

A look at her great-grandfather who was a worker that died and his widow along with the situations others would have went through back in England. Really nice look at the history and legacy of what happened.

This non-fiction book talks about the widows that Titanic left behind. It's an interesting perspective and it's different from what we are used to when we talk about the Titanic. Usually we learn the stories of those who lived or those who died on the ship. The widows and children that were left behind were never mentioned enough. This book is about them and it's told in a part through the story of the author's great-grandmother.

The book also discusses the social and economic conditions back then and how they affected the already difficult lives of the widows.

As interesting and different the concept of this book is, it was repetitive a lot of the times and that bothered me. The fact that it repeats some situations and facts more than it's necessary and the many specific examples of widows and children that got financial aid I found a little bit tiring at times.

I have always been aware of the Titanic disaster and in fact since a small child have been drip fed a tale of a lucky escape of a family member. It had never occurred to me that those families without closure will have suffered more than the loss of a loved one. It seems that widows of sea going lower and working class men and also those children who were dependent on fathers, brothers, sons or other male relatives suffered much more.
The detail and research is sound and informative. I am now looking to revisiting the SeaCity Museum of Southampton with different eyes.

3 stars

This book takes on the task of examining the lives and situations of the families of those crew members who died in the Titanic disaster. It is a point of view that I have never considered. I too, like many Titanic aficionados of the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship, have focussed on the “rich and the great” passengers. (To my shame.)

The book discusses the social and economic conditions of the day, such as the coal strike and the suffragette movement and how these things affected people's everyday lives.

Following the sinking, wives, mothers and children gathered on the docks by the White Star Line offices to check the list of survivors – and the dead – in hopes that their man (mostly), had survived.

Life for those survivors became very hard. If it was difficult before living in poverty, it was made especially onerous afterwards. Women took in washing or searched for other menial jobs that they could do to support their now fatherless children. People often went hungry, pawned their shoes (for they had nothing else to pawn), or were driven to the workhouses. Even workhouses had limited room, so not all could go there. It was considered a very bad thing to wind up in the workhouse.

This book is written in a clear manner. However, it keeps repeating itself (an annoying habit), over and over mentioning the same situation in almost the very same words. There is much speculation about people's thoughts and feelings. A good point is that it does quote some survivor's descendants and even some survivors of the disaster. While it is an excellent and previously an almost original subject about which to write, it is written in a somewhat sophomoric style. I did find it interesting though and it brought my attention to the extreme conditions which the survivors had to suffer following the deaths of their loved ones.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword/Pen & Sword History for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read and review.

I have been fascinated with the story of the Titanic and her passengers and workers over the years and read most of the books written on the subject however I will admit I have never sat down and thought about the effect it must have had on the people left behind in Southampton and so this book has been a revelation. The sad stories of these poor families left behind and the treatment they received from the White Star Line over the years. It’s so sad to see that even the women and children who managed to get help they were constantly monitored to ensure they lived a life befitting of the relief funds. This really is a very interesting and well researched read.