A well written fictionalized account of the Titanic. A pleasure to read for this historical fiction fan

I really enjoyed this book and I liked all of the characters. I enjoyed learning about the Titanic and thinking about the different stories of the people aboard the ship.

This book was so lovely, yet so heart breaking.

The entire time I read this book I had visions of the movie Titanic. People set out for a better life in America, hoping that the hard times were behind them. Waving goodbye to friends and family as the ship disembarked. And a few days later, being panic-stricken when the Titanic hits an ice berg and starts taking on freezing cold water.

This story grabbed me from the beginning and held me until the end. The amazing love stories that unfolded, along with a somewhat surprise ending made for a story I will think about for a long time to come.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction with a dash of romance. This was the first I have read from the author, but it won’t be the last.

What is it about Titanic that still holds us in its thrall, more than 100 years after it sank on its maiden voyage? Whatever it is, this book allows us to travel with one of its passengers on that fateful trip, Maggie, her aunt, and a group of friends and neighbors. We get to share with them their excitement of the adventure, the sadness of leaving Ireland, their awe at being on such a magnificent vessel, and the fear and confusion of those last dreadful hours onboard.

This book follows one of the few survivors of Titanic, the unsinkable ship that sank, from before she leaves her small town in Ireland through the life she lived in America. We get to see parts of the story from Maggie’s perspective, and parts through the eyes of her granddaughter, Grace, an aspiring journalist. I found the first half of this book slow, and after finishing it, I felt that the title was slightly misleading. Why misleading? Because very little of the book involves Maggie returning home. While she’s a teenager when the ship sinks, she doesn’t return home until she’s an old woman, and very little of the book deals with that trip. I felt that the second half of the book was wonderful, filed with emotion and a few surprises.

The strength of this book, for me, was in the letters and journal entries. They provided much detail and insight to what Maggie was feeling, what Shamus thoughts were. I was able to whip through those easily, but the rest of the book was often slow going.

I received a free copy of this book, an ARC, from the publisher, Macmillan. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

This sweet book about love and overcoming grief was centered around the sinking of the Titanic. I liked Maggie, and I liked the part she played in her great granddaughter's life. I appreciated the way this book showed not only those who were sailing on Titanic but also those who were left at home and those who were waiting in America. I also thought it was cool to see the ship through the point of view of those in steerage but for them also to get a peek at first class for comparison.

Enjoyable read of how the people who were saved from the Titanic. The author describes the scenes and situations brilliantly. I was provided this novel by Netgalley for an unbiased opinion.
#netgalley #hazelgaynor #harpercollins

This was a period piece that I had difficulty getting into. It was too much like the movie, The Titanic. Then it jumps to 1982. But it jumped back and forth to 1982 and for a period of time, to the journal entries. The book became more interesting after the iceberg because I had not read very much about those that survived. It was interesting to read from that perspective. This was my first reading about the aftermath. Looking who had survived the men that had sneaked on, the woman that brought her dog. the empty spaces on the boat. It was also interesting to read about how the company had the survivors sign waivers while they were still in shock.

From there it became more of a love story with as happy of an ending as you could expect regarding Titanic survivors. All in all the plot was ok and became much more to my liking about midway. It was a quick and easy read.

This story goes back and forth between 1912 and 1982 telling about a small group of the Titanic passengers from County Mayo in Ireland. The reasons for leaving Ireland were varied among the 14 passengers and only three survive. There is a contemporary story about one of the survivor's grand daughter and many parallels between both of their lives. It is an interesting portrayal of a different segment of the Titanic's passengers.

Ughh DNF 16% of the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed Meet Me in Monaco by this author, and I will definitely be reading more by this author. However, I just couldn’t get into this topic only because it was too reminiscent of the movie “Titanic” for me. I just felt like I already got the gist of the story in a short time.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow paperback for allowing me to preview this one in exchange for my honest opinion.

An interesting story that felt like it as missing something, but maybe that was the point. I wanted to know more about life after Titanic for the main traveler.

The Girl who Came Home tells the stories of two young women overcoming terrible tragedies. The first is Maggie, who was a young girl traveling from Ireland to America on the Titanic and her great-granddaughter, Grace dealing with the death of her father. I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. What I though was going to be a heartbreaking story about all the people that lost their lives that fateful night, was actually a sweet story of survival and love that left me very satisfied with the ending.

I give this a 3.5.

The Girl Who Came Home is a book about the Titanic's voyage, inspired by the true story of the Addergoole 14. Maggie is a 17-year-old Irish orphan who is leaving her sweetheart behind to sail to the United States with her aunt Kathleen and a dozen other friends from her small town to start a new life. Obviously, the boat sinks, and Maggie survives. Now that she's 87-years-old, she's finally ready to share her story with her granddaughter, Grace, who is struggling to move on after her own father's death.

I struggled a bit to get through the earlier pages of this one... They are on the Titanic, and we all know it sinks. It's just a given from the beginning. We know Maggie survives, since we meet her as an older woman early on, but we meet a lot of different characters who we know the odds are won't survive. And the dialogue was a bit painful in places.

But, I really liked that the author focused on the steerage class passengers, since it's a group that seems to be more overlooked in accounts of the Titanic, probably because fewer survived. And the writing surrounding the iceberg and subsequent actions of the characters was really good.

I also really enjoyed the love story between her and Seamus, as well as the character of the third-class steward Harry. Harry, especially, came alive on the pages.

Thank you to Book Club Girl at Harper Collins/William Morrow and Netgalley for providing me with a free arc of this book. It has not influenced my opinion.

I’ve been fascinated by the Titanic for most of my life. Told from the perspective of Maggie, a steerage passenger who survives the sinking, the book is rich with detail about the magnificent, doomed ship. I love books which shift from current times to the past, the author deftly handles these transitions. Many account of the passage are told from the perspective of high-profile passengers and I appreciated learning how 2nd and 3rd class passengers fared. If you enjoy historical fiction, this book will please.

Thanks to Book Club Girl at Harper Collins/William Morrow & Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is loosely based on the Addergoole Fourteen, a group of fourteen individuals from County Mayo in Ireland who boarded the Titanic in hopes of a better life in America. I had never heard of this group, I will definitely do some research on them now. The Girl Who Came Home was a wonderful story that beautifully wove together the story of 80 year old Maggie, a Titanic survivor, with the story of the past she’s never spoken of.

Loved this book! Vividly captures not only an unimaginable tragedy, but also the feel of both young and enduring loves. I thoroughly enjoyed the awakening realization of the mystery that is our ancestors and relatives as real people with the same cares, confusions, and heartaches that we assume are unique to ourselves. This book is very readable and I will seek out other books by this author.

Feel good read set in modern time about a survivor of the Titanic. The story moves back and forth from the actual event in 1912 to the present emphasizing the relationship of the survivor and her granddaughter.

This book was definitely a page-turner! Even though we all know the ending for the Titanic, this brought a new perspective on the aftermath. The present day storyline was engaging as well.

I enjoyed this book. Ever since I heard about the Titanic as a child in the 1950’s, I have been enthralled with books and movies about this subject. I liked how this book was focused on a third class Irish immigrant Maggie. I usually like two period stories but I think this book might have been better to focus on just Maggie’s story.

First, let's get out of the way the fact that this book takes place mostly on the Titanic, so I'm not giving anything away if I tell you the ship sinks - unless you've been living under a rock. From there, the focus of the book is really about Maggie, one of the ship passengers, and how leaving her boyfriend and country behind to start a new life in America is even further exacerbated by being a part of one of the most well-known naval disasters of all time. The book starts off stiff and awkward, then moves to overwritten (there's a lot of giggling going on running around the ship until the Titanic makes too close of an acquaintance with an iceberg), and it's not really until disaster strikes that Gaynor's writing really starts to shine. She does a great job of putting you in the panicked position of a passenger trying to get off the ship, wondering about the people they were traveling with and finally the coping and recovery process. And while I love that she made the focus of the story people in third class instead of the usual first class route, I wish that she'd made the whole story focused on that. I don't really feel like the popular dual timeline is necessary (her great-granddaughter Grace is hearing the story as a burgeoning writer in 1982). I also feel like if she'd focused only on Maggie's experience in 1912, instead of throwing in occasional storytelling from at least four other POVs it would have made the story stronger. This one is kind of a mixed bag for me.