Seventeen year old Maggie Murphy and thirteen other people from their small town leave Ireland in 1912 on the RMS Titanic. Maggie's mother has died so her Aunt Kathleen is bringing her home with her. She is one of only a few passengers who survive the sinking. When Maggie wakes up in the hospital, she vows to never speak about it.

It's 1982 in Chicago and 87 year old Maggie's great-granddaughter, Grace, needs a story to write an article. It'll save her job so Maggie decides it's time to tell Grace her story. Her suitcase that she traveled with is in the attic and Maggie shares the contents with Grace. Where will this journey take her?

I'm a big fan of dual-timeline stories and this one does not disappoint! It's beautifully written, haunting, heartbreaking but joyous. Thank you NetGalley and Book Club Girls for this wonderful story. I highly recommend it!

The Girl Who Came Home was an interesting historical fiction read for someone into the Titanic. The main character is telling her tale of survival to her great-granddaughter after 70 years.

For me, the story was a little slow moving but I liked the characters and it was interesting.

I found the content of the story very interesting. The trip on the Titanic and the story of a survivor. I also really liked that everything in Maggie’s story came full circle - I wasn’t left wondering what happened to her and the others that were important in her life. I just wasn’t interested in the second story - the 1980s and found that part to drag on. I love historical fiction so this was good for me. Thanks to William Morrow and Book Club Girl for this Free Friday book during 2020!

Loved this book of historical fiction! Great author and great storyline! I was immediately pulled right in to the story.

I enjoyed The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and this one provided a different perspective about the Titanic. The strong female characters were a draw for me as well.

This was such a lovely book! I haven’t read or even thought about a Titanic story except for the movie… this was such a cool POV of what happened. Gaynor really has a talent for weaving a tale that grasps you from the beginning. Some people were made for writing Historical Fiction… and it’s stories like this that solidifies why I love Historical Fiction best! Definitely recommend

Enjoyed this one though it was sad the big twist at the end was kind of obvious. Hearing the perspectives of the steerage class passengers and the emotions of what happened as the ship was going down was interesting as well as how the survivors dealt with the aftermath.

I wanted to read this after I enjoyed Hazel Gaynor's When We Were Young and Brave so much. I liked this one too, but I wish the story had been more focused on the events in the past immediately following the disaster and Maggie's life after. So much of it was glossed over and just briefly mentioned. I wish there had been more of that instead of the time spent reflecting on it in the 1982 part of the book, which felt a little repetitive. I loved the characters in the Ballysheen 14 and Harry the steward. Even knowing what was coming, I couldn't help getting attached to them which made it even more heartbreaking as the events unfolded. Hazel Gaynor has such a way with historical fiction and I look forward to reading more of her books!

I love reading about the Titanic and The Girl Who Came Home was fabulous! I love Hazel Gaynor's writing!

This is based on true events. Not sure I was ready for another story about the Titanic. However, the back stories were interesting. and I would recommend this for anyone who is interested in another telling of the Titanic.

I enjoyed reading this book and the way it tells the story on two intertwined time frames.

The book tells the story of Maggie, a seventeen year old Irish girls who travels to America in the ill fated Titanic voyage, being one of the few who makes it alive. Also tell the story of Maggie's great granddaughter Grace who's having difficulties getting on with her life after her father's death.

Maggie's story is much more interesting than Grace's, but I enjoyed the bond that the two shared.

I like very much Hazel Gaynor's writing and this book didn't disappoint me.

I really enjoy Hazel Gaynor and was immediately sold on reading her book, "The Girl Who Came Home" regarding a young Irish woman setting sail on the RMS Titanic. We all know how it ended, but there are so many stories still to be told about how the journey to the ship began and a survivor's life afterward. Gaynor moves the story line back and forth from Chicago 1982 of a grand-daughter discovering a life unknown to Ireland, 1912 where dreams and hopes were cast toward a better life in America.

This is my sixth book by Hazel Gaynor, and I love the way she tells an historical fiction story! This time she tackles the daunting story of a Titanic survivor, inspired by true events and people.

Maggie Murphy is 17 and now alone in Ireland, so her aunt returns from America to take her across the ocean for a better life. Along with Maggie and her Aunt Kathleen, a large group of villagers buy tickets for the inaugural Titanic voyage and the hopes of a booming America. Called the “Ballysheen 14” they set out, unaware of what fate has in store for them. Maggie leaves behind her true love Seamus as he’s caring for an ailing father and doesn’t have the money for passage. He vows to wait for Maggie.

I enjoyed the stories of the adventures the Irish lasses had on board the ship and the scenes of the sinking were heartbreaking. Not surprisingly Maggie vows to never speak of the horrors she witnessed. I thought the author did a great job describing the aftermath in New York with relatives waiting for news and the torture of reading the lists of survivors. And that village in Ireland, the news hit there particularly hard.

Flash-forward to 1982, the story features Maggie’s grand-daughter Grace and her struggles as a budding writer. She leaves college to care for her ailing mother and worries about ever returning to school and writing. Maggie decides it is time to share her story with Grace and the two bond over the telling and Maggie seems to finally find some peace.

I really enjoyed the characters in this one and who can resist a story involving the Titanic?

Be prepared to need a tissue, or seven. This was a beautifully written story that will move the most stoic reader to tears. While we all know the story of the Titanic, the telling focuses on Maggie Murphy, who was one of fourteen people from her small village in Ireland to set sail on the Titanic's only voyage.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was that the narrative flipped from three main perspectives: seventeen year old Maggie Murph, Maggie 7 years later, and Maggie's granddaughter, Grace. This kept the story line interesting and filled with hidden surprises that will delight readers and adds a new spin to a much told story.
Highly recommend and will be a frequent re-read.

The Girl Who Came Home is a story of survival against the backdrop of one of the most well known tragedies, the sinking of the Titanic. It is a fictional account based on a true group of people from the same town in Ireland. Gaynor's writing is extremely descriptive and pulls the reader right in to the story. Gaynor invokes excitement, heartache, and hope.

I thought the characters were very realistic. It took me a bit of time to keep the names straight but loved their family histories. The author showed the way class distinction was kept so rigidly at that time on cruise ships and the opulence of the upper class level. I liked the ending and the way the author brought it full circle.

THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME by Hazel Gaynor is a well-written and poignant work of historical fiction that kept me engaged from beginning to end. It is inspired by real people and a true story of events aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic in 1912. In Ireland in 1912, Maggie Murphy and thirteen friends and relatives from her small village set sail aboard the Titanic for a new life in America. Maggie is heartbroken to leave behind her sweetheart, Séamus, but with her parents gone, she has no choice but to accompany her Aunt Kathleen on this journey. On the night that the ship strikes an iceberg, Maggie is one of very few passengers from steerage to survive the sinking of the great ship. She vows never to speak of the tragedy again even with her family. Seventy years later, Maggie’s great granddaughter, Grace Butler is feeling lost after the death of her father. Now a caregiver to her mother, Grace has set aside her writing and a promising romantic relationship and has lost all direction for her future. Maggie decides to tell Grace the long-buried and painful details of that fateful night aboard Titanic and in doing so, changes both of their lives in the present. Told in two timelines and multiple points of view, the author alternates seamlessly between the past and present. For me, the story had the perfect balance of fact and fiction. The descriptions of the disaster were vivid and heart-wrenching and the characters were wonderfully portrayed. I enjoyed this emotional story of love, loss, grief and hope and highly recommend it. Thank you to Book Club Girl, William Morrow and NetGalley for the chance to read this moving book.

One of my favorite interests is the titanic. So this book gripped me from the beginning. Thoroughly enjoyed reading.

This is by far the best Titanic novel I have read. It's based on a real set of people for one. It has characters who will warm your heart and make your tears flow. It has a build up to the floundering of the ship and the aftermath. Most of all, it has that human touch, a full picture of the survivors and their stories come full circle. There's a lovely mention to the real people on which this story was based and the story behind the story really does shine a poignant light on each and every page.

Historical fiction is not my go-to genre, but the premise of this book sounded pretty interesting & I was compelled to read it. The Girl Who Came Home tells the story of Irish immigrants as they sailed on the Titanic.
Maggie, one of the main characters, is heartsick to have left her love behind in Ireland. But she’s hopeful to arrive in America and have more opportunities. When the tragedy of the sinking ship occurs, Maggie somehow survives but is traumatized.
Maggie’s story is then tied into her great niece Grace’s in a unique way, and I feel like this story would appeal to a wide audience due to its heartfelt handling of a historic story.