This was a fascinating historical fiction novel. On one hand, we follow the life of Violet Jessop, an ocean liner stewardess. Violet survived three shipwrecks, including Titanic. We also meet Daphne Chaundanson, a member of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) during WWll. The novel alternates between both Violet’s and Daphne’s lives, and ultimately, weaves them together in a truly remarkable story.

This book has inspired me to learn more about the real-life Violet Jessop. Her memoir has joined my TBR pile!

Daphne’s fictional character was inspired by the thirty-nine real-life women of the Special Operations Executive. I was fascinated by the bravery of the men and women of the SOE and I want to read more about these heroes as well.

When a book leaves a reader wanting to read more books about the real-life events that inspired an author to write, for me, that’s the greatest compliment I can give an author. This book is such a book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh.

History is fascinating. I love historical fiction based on real events and characters. It helps me to see what was happening when researched well and how people may have reacted to events and circumstances with the fictional telling.
Violet Jessop is a ship stewardess during the early 1900's. She is a Irish girl in her twenties at the beginning of "Unsinkable". She sacrifices by working to aid her mother and siblings. Her character is based on a nurse who sailed on the ships mentioned. She experienced the tragic sinking and survived, earning the moniker, Miss Unsinkable.
Daphne Chaundanson, London 1942, is a fictional character who is the basically abandoned daughter of a famous actor. She loves history, studies the Titanic and weird associations with it prior to the historic sinking of the ship. She becomes a secret agent in France to try to do something to make her father proud of her.
I received this book from Harper Muse through NetGalley and this is my own unsolicited opinion about it. This is at times a nerve-wracking set of stories about two brave and dedicated women. I liked both of them. The author has obviously done intense research with the information about time period, ships, the jobs these women undertake. The two stories are alternated between the women and time period. Jenni L. Walsh's talent comes through as she leaves each character on a 'cliff' between their individual stories. She certainly understands how to use cliffhangers to urge the reader forward.
It's a good read.

A suspenseful story set against the backdrop of two wars, and several maritime disasters. The story follows two different ladies and their lives amid these time periods. I enjoyed the book, but felt the ending was a little rushed, and could have said more. There were times when you had to pay strict attention when the author was shifting between the times and women, but it was not hard to follow. The author states the book was based on the life of a real person. Overall, great read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was very fortunate to have received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review, which I am happy to provide.
I have always been fascinated by Titanic and when I read the blurb that this was based on Violet Jessop, Miss Unsinkable, I was in. The book was told from the perspective of 2 women facing ship wrecks, wars and some heartaches, I found it really hard to put down. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline it had a good pace and the ending was to my satisfaction. Definitely would recommend to my friends.

A book filled with second chances. This historical fiction will fill you waves of emotion as two women cross paths on the fateful trip of the Titanic. A perfect read for the fan of historical fiction, or those who constantly think about the Titanic like men think about the Roman Empire.

I really, really wanted to love this book, but sadly it just didn’t work for me. As soon as I saw that this was a book about Violet Jessop, I immediately requested it. Her life experience is so intriguing and I looked forward to delving into the emotional guts of her story.

Unfortunately, I realized that Violet’s story would have to share space in a dual timeline (not my favorite format) with Daphne. I understand the connection, but it really came across as two separate stories. As I read, I always wanted to come back to Violet’s timeline…this woman survived 3 maritime disasters and witnessed a fourth. I wanted to understand why she kept going back and how these adventures impacted her person. Oddly, the emotion wasn’t there. The sinking ships were like any other day. She was a little too stoic. The story was repetitive and exhibited too much telling/not enough showing. The bilingual piece felt disconnected and forced. And the ending was so overly contrived. I was just disappointed overall. I am sorry because I really did want to love this and really looked forward to reading it.

I received a complementary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Well written dual timeline, historical novel.
While this book was slow moving it was interesting and kept me reading. I love books related to the titanic as well so that caught my attention right away.
Very enjoyable read.

Unsinkable is told in two timelines involving two women. Violet Jessop, a real survivor of the Titanic, and Daphne, a fictional character who was part of the Special Operations Executive during WWII.
Their stories intersect through shipwrecks and war.
I so wanted to love this. I am a sucker for anything about the Titanic and I was looking for a historically accurate tale of Jessop.
I did get that but I found the book slow going and seemed to lose interest when the rimeshift was made to Daphne. No fault of the author as much as individual taste.
The description of Jessop's experience on the Titanic is wonderfully depicted. Her thoughts as the ship goes down is as dramatic and moving as any I have read.

Thanks to @@netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Two incredible stories, intertwined by fate, and partially based on a true story. This left me stunned.
Violet Jessop survives a shipwreck and immediately returns to work on the sea, now employed as a stewardess on the Titanic. Incredibly, she makes it off the ship and survives, departing the sinking ship with an infant curled up in her arms. Years later, she continues to work, trying to care for her siblings and mother. When the Great War breaks out, she becomes a nurse, alongside her four brothers who go into battle. Not long after she finds herself on *another sinking ship, the Britannic. While parts of the story are fictionalized, Violet was a real person who went through all of these historic events.
Between Violet's passages, the story also fast forwards to the 1940s, as Daphne Chaundanson, who survived the Titanic sinking when she was a baby, is now working as a special ops agent in France during World War II. With a love of languages and the overwhelming desire to make her father proud, she goes through the unimaginable while trying to defeat the Germans. Both women have their own secrets and stories and fate is likely to bring them together more than once.
I thought this was a beautifully written story through both perspectives. I've always been drawn to stories of the Titanic and while that was just a small part of this novel, it instantly had me hooked.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Harper Muse. This is out now.

This book was fantastic! I enjoyed both story lines and characters. It was exciting and could not wait to find out what happened to the characters, I could not put this book down. Read it in two days and have been recommending it to everyone. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and will look for other books by Jenni L Walsh.

Two women, three sinkable ships, and a lifetime of history. After surviving the sinking of the Titanic, Violet continues with her life and have two more brushes with death on ships. Daphne becomes a Special Operations Executive agent during WWII and sees the damage war can cause.

The settings were brought to life with detailed descriptions. I could picture Violet as she sat in the lifeboat and watch the horrors of the Titanic sinking around her or Daphne as she watched an entire building of people be herded by the Germans into a truck. Both women saw horrific things but I also could feel the hope that they had as they worked for the good of themselves but even more the people they were working to save.

Unsinkable is the story of survival and family, I love learning more of the history of Titanic. The history shared about WWII was not new to me, but I am always looking for more to learn. WWII history is my favorite to read.

Thank you Harper Muse for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The book alternates between Violet and Daphne. Violet is a real person who survived the sinkings of the Titanic and Brittanic as well as Olympic’s collision with another ship. Ms. Walsh brought her to life well. Her story opens with the boarding of the Titanic. Daphne is not a real person but a composite of a number of real women. She lives in 1942 and joins the Allied Resistance in France and has many harrowing adventures. The two have a tenuous connection, not revealed until the end (I guessed it at 70%), so it feels like two completely different stories.

I was more interested in Violet’s story, probably because of the title and cover, which have nothing to do with Daphne.

My main complaint of this book is that it is in present tense. It does not work for this story at all. Instead of making the action feel immediate and immersive, it made me feel far removed from it. It felt like a friend telling me what happened to them, not a storyteller making events come to life. It was all telling, not showing. That didn’t make it bad, but I felt so far away from the story, I never felt fear or tension for the characters. It was more like reading a news article about them.

I received an ARC from NetGalley. I assume (hope) the typos in the book will be corrected in the final proof.

my rating: 3.5 stars

Unsinkable follows two different characters and timelines. The Violet Jessop one follows a real woman who survived multiple ships sinking. I loved seeing a fictionalized tale of her story and how and why she continued to go on ships and provide for her family while also doing it for herself as well. I also loved seeing the way she saw the ship in the book and how she felt about certain things that had been happening since the Titanic first took off.

The second character we follow is Daphne Chaundanson and she is a fictional character. I did like her story as well, and seeing the special operations she was a part of during WWII. Having said that though I didn’t enjoy her parts as much as I could have if her story had been it’s own book or novella.

For me I love the thought of this book, but it just didn’t end up working for me as much as I hoped it would because of how much of the story wasn’t about the Titanic or the sinking at all. We got about 50/50 of each story, which is okay, just not what I was expecting because when the book was first pitched to me it sounded very Titanic-focused. So as I kept reading and it got less and less about the Titanic the more I started losing interest in it. This is just a personal thing for me, and I know a lot of people will still love this book.



Overall it’s a good story and was well throughout and I did enjoy the ending. I just wish they had been two separate books so we could have gotten more of each of their stories.

There is definitely an audience for this book, but I don't think I fit into that audience. Mostly due to personal preferences. I was very interested in the historical aspect of Violet Jessop's story. I love stories about working class women during the time period of 1900-1920's. And the fact that this story followed her real life story made it even better. But I just never connected with Daphne's character and I tend to avoid stories in the WWII era.

If the book had the one timeline with Violet and fleshed out her story more, I probably would have loved this book.

UNSINKABLE by Jenni L. Walsh was on so many “most-anticipated” lists, including mine, and was the perfect first read of 2024. It lived up to the hype. Historical fiction? Check. Dual Timeline? Check. Strong female protagonist? Check, check! There are two!
Walsh kept me on the edge for my seat wondering what would happen next with Violet and Daphne. It was interesting to find out that Violet Jessop was a real person who survived three ships sinking. Obviously, fictionalized but based on her memoir. Daphne was based not on one person, but a compilation of the many women who were a part of the Special Operations Executive, French Section. It was fascinating to read the Author’s Note and find out how Walsh found inspiration for UNSINKABLE. I love how Walsh took the inspiration and developed the characters and wove together the dual timeline storylines.
If this is not on your TBR, it should be. It will be on the “best of” lists for 2024 and not to be missed!
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of the novel. All opinions are my own and freely given.
#Unsinkablebook #jennilwalsh #harpermusebooks #historicalfictionbooks #historicalfictionnovels

Told in dual timelines, Unsinkable is a historical fiction about two women in different periods of time whose lives intersect over war and shipwrecks. An interesting read for sure.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Muse for my ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for this copy of Unsinkable. I am providing my thoughts and opinions on what was an entertaining read.

Two, seemingly disparate, stories of Violet and Daphne separated by thirty years. Coincidentally, each with their own fear of water and sea voyages. Little did I know how interconnected their lives really were. The history of the Titanic and two world wars are threaded through both their lives. We only know how closely until almost the end of the book.

I can’t say this was the best book I’ve ever read, but it was entertaining and kept
me interested in how it would settle out. A solid piece of work.

How can you not be anything but captivated by the story of the Titanic? The grandeur, the confidence in the ship’s integrity, the tragic fall out. Interestingly enough, despite being a historical fiction fan, this is my first read that directly involved the sinking of that beautiful ship and what an incredible story it was.

The story is told from two points of view - that of Violet Jessop, a real survivor of the RMS Titanic shipwreck, who would go on to earn the nickname Unsinkable after surviving another 2 catastrophic disasters during her lifetime - and Daphne Chaundanson, a character modeled off of the women who put their hearts and lives on the line to support their country during WWII - in this case as a Special Operations Executive. Both women navigate families, relationships and responsibilities in the backdrops of significant tragedy.

The story transitions smoothly between the two timelines and points of view and intersects in ways I didn’t see coming. The commonalities in the life experiences of the characters - despite being so starkly different - is such a good reminder of how connected we all are. The sacrifices that women make for their families, themselves and - sometimes - their countries - are worth acknowledging, and celebrating.

I most enjoyed Violet’s story, as it was so different from anything else that I’ve typically read. And while the sinking of the Titanic was just a starting point for her story, the narrative gave life to an event that is generally so much larger than life in in lore and historical significance.

If you love strong women overcoming obstacles in various walks of life, historical fiction or anything Titanic, I would highly recommend this read. So well researched while also being pleasantly readable and appropriately evocative of the time periods for each of the main characters.

This was an interesting story with timelines taking place in World Wars 1 and 2. I enjoyed Violet's story more, but both timelines had their interesting points. I find it fascinating that a woman would choose to go back into a line of work that almost took her life several times. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction and who are interested in the Titanic.
Thank you Netgalley and Harper Muse for the review copy.

Loved this book! It’s told as a dual timeline with two great main characters. I loved both of the women, but Violet’s story was my favorite. This book was well researched and well written. I loved learning about Violet Jessop. It was also interesting to read about both WWI and WWII in the same book. I thought the author did a really good job with the dual timeline. Highly recommend this one!