An extraordinary amount of detail combines with vignettes of remarkable women who voyaged the Atlantic Ocean by ship before plane travel became more practical. I only read a few chapters before ordering a hard copy of this book to make it easier for me to go back and reread something of interest.
Nonfiction books require more time and patience to read because of the details and information that need to be absorbed. That’s why historical fiction is way more palatable, pleasurable and popular. One can always follow up later if knowledge of the facts is of interest. I wager millions more people have seen the movie “Titanic” than have watched a documentary on the ship.
As excellent as this book is, not sure if the subject will have enough appeal to make it widely read.

Interesting history about Transatlantic cruises before during and after both wars. Great stories about the first brave women that worked on the seas.

The book drug a bit sometimes - long chapters and too much in depth facts. I was expecting more stories about the women - less about the war.

I wasn't sure what exactly to expect when I started reading this, but I feel like what I got from this book was definitely unexpected. There is a lot of historical ground covered in this book including both World Wars, the Titanic, the meeting of the parents of a recent president, and much more. However, it was the individual women's stories that I was expecting more of, and that is where this book is at its best. For instance, it was interesting to hear about Josephine Baker's time at sea on her way to Paris and also other lesser known women who worked or traveled aboard ocean liners during this period. At times I felt like this book could have benefited from focusing more on the stories and less on the overall history of the times. Nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable read overall.

Maiden Voyages is a wonderful look back at the golden age of luxury ocean liners and the women whose lives were transformed by their voyages across the Atlantic. From first class to steerage, movie stars to the female workers on the ships, the book is entertaining and educational. The pace was a bit slow, and much of the book was very dry, but it was interesting to read these stories.

5 stars
Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans is a terrific book about the advent and Golden Age of transatlantic ocean travel and women pioneers who worked on the great ships. Ms. Evans is a cultural historian, and so naturally this book is well-researched, with an introductory dramatis personae to acquaint the reader with the women featured in the book, and an extensive bibliography and supporting notes at the book’s conclusion.
She beautifully begins with an evocative description of the cast of travelers of various social classes on an ocean liner in the 1920s. This segues into the history of early transatlantic travel with an entertaining excerpted account of Charles Dickens’ 1842 crossing, giving a nod to the wisdom and good cheer of a stewardess.
From that early mention, the fascinating history of women seafarers who made their living in various occupations on the great ocean liners is told. In the early days, most were “stewardesses”, employed attend to female passengers on the voyages. During WWI these women retrained as nurses; in post-war travel, they were engaged as in many capacities, such as hairdressers, swim instructors, chaperones, masseuses, etc. By the end of the 1920s, women were finally employed in more traditional male positions, such as ships’ engineers.
I liked the manner in which the author interweaves drier facts with true stories of the exploits of intrepid women, like Violet Jessop, the Unsinkable Stewardess, and Edith Sowerbutts, whose voyages as a conductress and later a stewardess spanned decades, including action during WWII. There are also other delicious tidbits about rich and famous travelers like Josephine Baker, Elsa Maxwell, and Edward VIII, Prince of Wales.
This book is well-written and an entertaining, enlightening voyage through the history of women’s roles in the maritime industry in the 20th century. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to those interested in women’s history and the Golden Age of transatlantic ocean liner travel.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review.

I have spent the last month reading Maiden Voyages by Siân Evans. The book really spoke to me. I learned so much about women, some rich and famous, others working women trying to find a place to make a living and survive.. The history of Transatlantic cruises from the late 1800s through two world wars and the roles women had on these ships is amazing. For this reader, this book was personal and has had a profound effect on me.

I connected to this book through my maternal great grandmother who emigrated as a fourteen-year-old, her three siblings and widowed mother from Somerset and settled in Skaneateles, New York in the 1800’s. . Many families settled in Skaneateles to work on the teasel farms. My second connection is through my paternal great grandparents who traveled on the Thomas Cook & Son “The Southern Hemisphere Cruise” from January 12, 1927 to June 2, 1927, on “Franconia”, a Cunard Liner. The third connection is to mother-in-law, who was a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force transport driver. She and her first-born were waiting to be able to travel on a ship when she received a call saying she had been approved to travel by plane full of mother’s and their babies if she could be ready in three days. Many of her friends came on ships.

My jaw dropped a few times reading about the conditions of the ships in the later half of the 1800s and imagining my relatives surviving the difficult circumstances. In the 1900’s, women that spoke to me were Violet Jessup and Edith Sowerbutts who worked so many different jobs over the war years and in-between. We also learned about the rich and famous. The stories around Wallis Simpson were interesting. I also admire Heddy Lamar and how she helped develop a radio guidance system during WWII.

I was so happy to find a reference to the Franconia which carried Winston Churchill from Yalta at the end of the war. I am blessed to have three fat log books from my great-grandfather’s cruise which includes passenger lists, on ship newspapers including an article about my great-grandmother, menus, their passport, and details of every stop. I had never spent much time looking through this treasure, but now I will.

My deep thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

As a frequent cruiser I have admired the women who have served us, entertained us and saw to the safety and operation of the ship. When I was offered an opportunity to read Maiden Voyages - Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them I was anxious to read more. It opened with the evolution of male dominated sea going vessels and the early passenger ships. Along the way you are introduced to the first stewardesses who saw to the female passengers, including Violet Jessup, known as the Unsinkable Stewardess. Serving on the Olympic, the voyage was aborted after a collision with another vessel. She then survived the sinking of the Titanic and the Britannia. With the arrival of war and the sinking of the Lusitania, passenger lines were reluctant to hire women until the war ended.

Siam Evans explains how the waves of immigrants and the Depression affected sea travel and the way that the cruise lines courted celebrities such as Lord and Lady Mountbatten to enhance their reputations. The 1920s saw expanded opportunities for women, not only as stewardesses but also to serve as hair stylists, physical fitness instructors and hostesses. It also saw the first female seagoing marine engineer. As some of the passengers are introduced, such as Tallulah Bankhead and Josephine Baker, the author also details their accomplishments and their impact on the times. This is not only a record of ships and sailings, but also a look at the historical events and cultural changes that affected the industry. Rather than a dry read with technical details, Sian Evans brings the voyages and people to life. I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for my review.

This was an interesting and informative read. I was shocked about some of the facts mentioned for Titanic and I haven’t heard of some of the other ships mentioned. I liked the facts and how the author was able to weave some of the personal stories or interview in and it read close to a story. I will say that sometimes it felt like there would be too many details about something random, and I would be ready to get back to the stories about the women/stewardesses or facts on the ships. I like History so I enjoyed it. If you don’t though….this book won’t be for you.

During the early twentieth century, if you wanted to travel between Europe and North America, you traveled by ship. In this book, you are granted an inside look at how it started, from the first ocean liner onward, and how women helped to shape the industry. It is truly fascinating how much things have changed, and how much women were a part of it all...many times in the background, unnoticed & underappreciated. From "company widows" who's husbands had died at sea and they took to the boats as stewardesses and were forced to leave their children with other family members or foster them out to strangers, to chaperones who stayed with the unaccompanied children in third class and made sure they arrived at their destination safely, these women worked tirelessly and for little compensation. At times the book seemed to drag a bit, but for the most part, it was very interesting. It is perfect for history buffs and trivia lovers alike.

An interesting and poignant portrait of women and life at sea. Well written and well researched, sheds light on the often underrepresented contribution of women in this stirring social commentary.

Maiden Voyages provides a rich, interesting history of women in Atlantic oceanic travel in the first half of the 20th century. The book focuses on the stories of individual women who worked and traveled on the transatlantic ocean liners to drive the narrative as well as looking at the overall trends in oceanic travel as it relates to women.

I enjoyed the stories of individual women, especially those who worked on the ocean liners and the celebrities of the time, though the celebrity stories were occasionally distracting from the overall narrative since they would often send me down Google rabbit holes. The connection to historical events going on around the changes in ocean travel also made the overall story interesting and provided excellent context for the changes in women's lives and experiences. I would have loved to experience the golden age of transatlantic ocean liners myself, but Sian Evans does a great job helping the reader understand what it was like for women of all ranks and classes.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Maiden Voyages early in exchange for an honest review!

Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans is an interesting compilation of the history of women who found opportunities and excitement on the high seas, mainly for the first half of the Twentieth Century. Evans has done extensive research to combine individual stories with the events of the day, as well as the cultural attitudes of the times. I enjoyed the vignettes and the varied personalities that she highlighted, from the well-connected to the maids.
I did find the book to be redundant.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐕𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝗪𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝗪𝐡𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝗪𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦⁣
𝘉𝘺 𝘚𝘪â𝘯 𝘌𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘴⁣
𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳: 𝘚𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯’𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 (𝘈𝘶𝘨 𝟷𝟶.𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷)⁣
⁣
⁣

⁣
Spoiler alert: I am and always have been fascinated by the Titanic story. The tragedy, the stories and the corners cut to make it a part of history everyone knows about. ⁣
⁣
So when I saw this pop up as an arc I knew it was something I would enjoy. I love history and love the focus on women’s stories in history that may not have always been at the forefront of books. That’s changed with time and we are hearing more and more about the strength of women in our past who seemed to have the weight of the world (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 ‘hats’ 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳) and did it without complaint or glory. ⁣
⁣
This book touched on a few of them. ⁣
⁣
If you enjoy this part of history, you’ll love this book. It has snippets of facts like a stewardess was paid 3pounds a month…. And that one lone cow would be brought on to ‘service’ the milk needs of the passengers. But the focus is on the stories about women of all social classes that hopped on board to escape, work or find a new life. ⁣
⁣
I really enjoyed this. Going to pass it along to my FIL who will also find the women’s stories fascinating

“For the first time women had been actively recruited and welcomed into offices and banks, factories and canteens. They had been employed alongside men, in clerking and administrative positions. Their abilities and skills had been required and valued, because they were filling vacancies left by men called up for the forces. As a result, many young women had developed a new sense of independence and self confidence. They had a sense of their own agency, and had proved to themselves that they could earn an independent living. The most outgoing and enterprising were realising that they could be citizens of the world, especially if they were prepared to travel. And in order to do that, they had to go to sea.”

Yessssss ladies. YES. 🙌🏻 Maiden Voyages was a fabulous and very informative look into the beginnings of the ocean liner era and how women found themselves both thrust into, and then subsequently enjoying, the freedom and independence that a career could provide. What an awesome and engrossing look into how women adapt and excel in the face of change! It was fantastic to see how the male dominated shipping industry had to alter and change with the introduction of more and more female passengers during the World Wars, and thus the need for a female crew.

This nonfiction book gripped me from the very first page with its tales of the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania. It’s a story we all know, but somehow continue to be fascinated by. Fun fact-Titanic was the first, and only, movie I ever saw more than once in a theater!

If you enjoy nonfiction, history, cruises or just a story of some bad ass women paving the way for how we live now, read this book! Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t normally pick up a ton of non-fiction but I was invited to read this book and was immediately intrigued by the synopsis.

Maiden Voyages was really interesting and it was very well researched. I knew virtually nothing about ships or the women at sea but after reading this, I feel like an expert! I especially enjoyed the WWII portion of this novel. The history behind some of these ships and the different people who travelled by sea is incredible.

Recently I read a book about PanAm and the way flight attendants essentially started and changed into the position it is today. So when I was invited to read the same type of book except with women on ocean liners I jumped at the chance.

What I thought was going to be an engaging read about women on the sea, was more so a history lesson about war and the roles some ocean liners played. There was so much detail provided that it drowned out the main premise of the book. I really wanted to learn more about the women and their roles and how they paved the way for equality in a man's world which is what they synopsis hinted at. Sadly, this isn't what I read.

The format lacked fluidity and focus and overall was hard to stay invested in. Some parts were very interesting and the time periods discussed had me intrigued. Other parts were extremely repetitive and bogged down with unnecessary detail (I felt) for what I was reading.

I would recommend this one for people who have an interest in war times and the history surrounding it.

I sincerely appreciate receiving a review copy by the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

If your a fan of historical WWII novels, I believe you would enjoy reading Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans. Many books have been written about WWII and the tragedies about the encampments and the lost of lives. This factual novel reveals the lives of women, English mostly who left their homes to serve on board. Many of them had served on ships during the period between the Great War and WWII as stewardesses or in some capacity. Many of them took on jobs that were manly men's jobs during the wars. No longer were the fancy dances on board and the high society traveling the seas. While reading this book you will find many famous names of people who enjoyed the seas both during peace time and also during the terrors of bombing. I would like to thank Netgalley for allowing me to read Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans before the publication date.

I received an ARC of this one based on my interests and honestly, so worth it. Learning about the women who made transatlantic journeys on ocean liners was really interesting.

Maiden Voyages is an exploration of how women shaped and were shaped by the golden age of ocean liner travel in the interwar period. Evans provides portraits of women from all walks of life aboard these ships, from those fleeing poverty in steerage to individuals like Wallis Simpson travelling first class.

Most interesting to me were the parts focused on the female workers, most of whom worked as stewardesses. In particular, Violet Jessop, who was a stewardess aboard the Titanic managed to survive three shipwrecks in total.

Large portions of this book were dedicated to the immigrant experience as well. I was reminded of the movie Brooklyn while reading about the conditions of immigrant women on these ships. This book also contrasted these horrific conditions with those of the ladies in first class.

While I was by no means looking for a book about this subject, I am so glad I read this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's and Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.25/5⭐️

I was pleasantly surprised by this fascinating look into the golden age (1920-40s) of ocean liners and especially women’s roles onboard.

Before flight, these giants were the only way of travel, and there were a myriad of reasons passengers flocked to them…escaping economic desperation, PR for various careers, fleeing persecution/violence, or simply for pleasure.

Ms. Evans did an excellent job of describing the hierarchy aboard ship and women’s slow evolution from basic caregivers to more leadership roles. Her insights into the various ways these ships were utilized, especially during both world wars, were both interesting and enlightening. I also loved knowing that she had a family connection to one of the major British shipping companies during this period…it gave the book more of a personal feel to me. And I admired those brave and hard-working women that she showcased, as well as the daring independence of some of the ambitious/well-known women of the day. They took on a new, unknown realm for females.

Very well done and happy this landlubber read it.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for providing me the free early arc of #MaidenVoyages . The opinions are strictly my own.