I love to peek into little pockets of history, and Maiden Voyages was certainly that! It fell in the nexus of two subjects I find myself drawn to. First, anthology-style history books about women who were otherwise forgotten - these can be hit or miss! I loved Come Fly the World, but really did not like the recent Confident Women. Second, what I lovingly call "angry sea books," which is what I grew up watching my dad collect and devour. Any history of a shipwreck, explorer, pirate, naval war, you name it, he's got it. And somewhere along the way, I have development own affinity for a select few angry sea books myself.

Maiden Voyages succeeded in telling a thorough and, at times, compelling history about the women of the megaships. Unfortunately, like many of the anthology histories I read, the narrative felt a bit dry and disjointed, and I wish there had been a more engaging framework connecting the women through history. I would have loved to know more about the women and a bit less about the ships.

Thank you for the review copy!

This was a decent read for me. I usually don’t read non-fiction, but sometimes I feel like learning something new about history so when I had the opportunity to read this I figured why not?

Let’s start with- this book is VERY descriptive. It not o my gives you background on the “leading ladies” of the stories, it also gives descriptions of the roles of men and how they differ from the women, as well as interesting information about the ocean liners. I unfortunately found that sometimes the descriptions went a little too deep and dragged on a bit too long- hence the 3 stars.

I really enjoyed the stories of the different ladies were remarkable and I kind of wished I skipped the first part of the book and jumped right into the stories. It provided me with insight into what travel used to be like for my grandparents generation and the women aboard these vessels. It gave me a different appreciation for social studies and how stories like those of these women have shaped how women travel and work today.

Sometimes context and background are nice in historical non- fiction, however I’d much rather focus on the stories of the women!

ARC received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very informative read about ocean liners and strong women that traveled and worked on them. The beginning is more on the liners themselves, which I enjoyed and it is setting the stage to focus on women and how they were able (or not able) to work aboard these ships. It also covers the stories of a few women that traveled across the seas and what it was like for them as well. The prohibition time period was interesting to learn about also, I didn't realize how much it would affect travel coming to and from America.

Overall this was such an interesting and informative read! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital galley to review.

Every once and a while it's nice to read books on history and non-fiction. #Maiden Voyages by #Sian Evans is wonderful. He explores how women's lives were transformed by the Golden Age of ocean liner travel between Europe and America.
They were celebrities, migrants and millionaires, refugees, aristocrats and crew members. Whose stories you might find interesting......
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley,#Sian Evans and # St. Martin's Press

This story tells how women took ocean liners to cross the Atlantic. The book was very well-written but the subject matter was not very fascinating.

Thank You to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be a very interesting read about the beginnings of women in maritime careers, from the first great Ocean Liners and evolving through both Great Wars. The courage and tenacity of women who were drawn to lives aboard vessels and spent their lives finding ways to maintain those careers, even in times of great strife and war. Careers evolving from serving the patrons of famous ocean liners, to becoming nurses on war ships, to accompanying children being shipped to places safer than their home countries during the war.
Many advanced to positions of authority and helped younger women to achieve their dreams of advancement.
Not only does this book showcase these brave women but it provides a history of the way travel changed on ocean liners and their function during both wars.
History buff or not, many people will find enjoyment in the pages of this tome.

This was one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. The title had me intrigued and I was completely caught up from the first few pages. The history of women on the sea was one I truly knew nothing about and Maiden Voyages was an eye opener as to the role women played throughout history on the ocean liners. This is an extremely well written book and the fact that it tells. not only the stories of the women who sailed as stewardesses and other positions but also the women that sailed as passengers. I highly recommend this book! Thank you so much to the publisher for the requested advanced copy for my honest review.

No one likes to write a bad review, and unfortunately I have to compose one for Sian Evans Maiden Voyages, a richly detailed nonfiction work about the Golden Age of ocean travel - the early twentieth century - and the women who traveled and worked aboard the ships. Sounds interesting, right? Although I typically do not read much nonfiction, I was excited and all in when I started this book, but Evans quickly lost my interest. The problem? She tries to do too much, too fast, and the result is a head-spinning amalgamation of everything "ocean liner" ... even stuff that wasn't about women!

This book reads like a documentary views. In fact, it would likely make a great documentary film because Evans uses anecdote after anecdote to describe life aboard these ships. I could see these stories told against a backdrop of photo and video from the times. In a book, however, it doesn't work because there is no common thread running through these pages. Evans bombards readers with one fact, one anecdote after another, and the result is overwhelming.

I thought I was going to be reading a book that provided an intimate portrait of little known women of the times who traveled and worked aboard ocean liners. I expected to learn much about what life was like on these ships, and what it would have been like to be a woman working aboard one in a time so drastically different from the career-driven female workforce era of today. Instead, Evans uses already well-established facts and stories, and rehashes them throughout her book. I am not sure that there is really anything new to learn here that can't be found elsewhere, making this book, frankly, quite the disappointment.

I love women’s history and will grab any book/audiobook on this subject any chance I can get! I love to learn new things!!

The Maiden Voyage tells the story of the women who worked on luxurious ocean liners like the Titanic and Lusitania during the golden age and also, about those that traveled via these ships. We read/hear the untold stories of celebrities, migrants, millionaires, refugees, aristocrats and crew members.

Evans shares with us information from individual accounts and diaries along with, what must have been, an enormous amount of research to deliver such a detailed account of history.

I’ve always been fascinated with the behind the scenes of transatlantic travel during the 20th centruy and this book/audiobook was a great history lesson for me! Some non-fiction historical stories can be dry at times, but I felt Jilly Bond did a fantastic job of narrating this book and bringing the stories to life.

I’d recommend this to any of my history-loving friends who love to read about women pioneers.

A fascinating look at how woman went against the norms to blaze a travel trail. I enjoyed reading this well researched book and getting to know the tough and gritty women whose stories come to life in the pages.

This book was an interesting read. I feel like I learned a lot. It had some twists I did not expect. Definitely sharing with friends!

Thank you to the author Sian Evans, the publisher St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This is the history of the women who sailed the seas on ocean transatlantic ships. The Golden Era of transatlantic travel was between the first and second world wars. Prior to World War I, only the very poorest women worked outside of the house. During WWI, women were asked to fill in for the men who went to fight. So, after the war ended, many women did not want to go back to the status quo. This is the history and stories of those women who were fortunate enough and brave enough to sail the seas. It is the story of both the working women and also those passengers that they served.

It was a bit repetitive at times, but a wonderful history of the Golden Age.

Resilience of women in all classes of society are illustrated in this historical account of women crossing the Atlantic ocean in search for new lives, new opportunities, or just high society.

Maiden Voyages gives us a in-depth look at not only the many ocean liners over the years, but the role that women played (or didn't have the opportunity to play) in relation to these ships. While some of the information was really quite interesting, I felt a lot of times we kept getting lost in the weeds. It was very in-depth which shows it was clearly well-researched, but again, sometimes it was a little much for me. But nonfiction isn't my favorite genre, so that could very well be on me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very interesting informative read. I love when non fiction reads like historical fiction. Enjoyed reading about these strong willed resilient women.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of the way this book read. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!

Maiden Voyages had such promise. Stories of different women whose lives were transformed by the golden age of ocean liner travel. Violet Jessop, for example, started working on ocean liners in 1908. She survived the sinking of the Titanic, and the HMHS Brtiannic, and was also on the ship RMS Olympic when it collided with a British Warship. She was known as the Unsinkable Stewardess. I thought this book would have more stories like this, or at least the book would be more about these types of stories. But it seemed to be more about the ocean liners. Personally, I think a little less detail about the ships, and a little more about the people, particularly the women would have made this a better book to read.

The authors research was impeccable and very thorough, for me that was very much a positive to this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Siàn Evans for the eARC/ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A very interesting portrayal of women and their travel and plight from travelling from the old world to the new.

Hearing the stories of these women... Their backgrounds, what their duties were, was a real eye opener for me and made me want to know more.

Lots of interesting facts and information and this book is a great resource for anyone wanting to know more about the time and women's history.

Worth the read 4 stars.

What a fantastic read. I never knew sailing the Atlantic was so social and exciting outside of the movies. It was so interesting to hear about these mostly forgotten women from so many different walks of life and how their lives were changed just by getting on a ship. It’s a time that’s gone by for this mode of transportation’s heyday but this book is a wonderful way to keep that time alive for future generations.

Thank you to St Martin's Press/MacMillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I found this to be very fascinating detailing the lives of the crew of women who worked on ocean liners. A friend of mine had talked about the documentary of Violet Jessup so I was excited to hear this would cover her life as well as others. To me, I found this book to be informative and well researched that I learned many fascinating things about the ocean liners and how the need for women to be a part of the sailing history grew with the company and societies changing views.
I think the author did a good job in illustrating how it truly is a village of women both on land and sea in lifting each other up, encouraging independence and making way for future generations. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in looking for an enjoyable read who doesn't mind a bit of backstory on the ship building and following these women's stories.