After the sinking of the Titanic, a group of individuals who were supposed to be on the ship but weren't form a book club as they try to grapple with second chances and what-ifs. Yorick, a bookstore owner, becomes friends with the beautiful heiress Zinnia and the beguiling artist Haze, but the trio must navigate their newfound relationship as they deal with their own fears of themselves and the world around them.

Pros: I'm a classic lit fan and the discussions of Hamlet, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Awakening, etc. made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The author also did a great job of capturing the atmosphere of elegance and desperation in Paris leading up to WWI--the entire story feels very immersive.

Cons: The pace is a little slow at times, but overall this didn't impact my enjoyment of the story.

Would recommend!

The premise of this book is great. A group of people who just missed getting on the Titanic join together in Paris to read/discuss books that were in the second-class library on the ship, per librarian Yorick, who was fired just prior to the Titanic's launch. The problem is that the plot focuses only on Yorick, Zinnia, and Haze, and does not discuss any books. It is a love triangle, ad nauseum, slow and boring. What a missed opportunity! Thanks to NetGalley, Doubleday Books, and Doubleday for providing an ARC.

This was a wonderful read that beautifully captures a specific time and place. Paris in 1912 was a dynamic city, full of artists, entrepreneurs, and dreamers; the perfect setting for the assorted characters who dodged death on the Titanic. The book is a gorgeous tribute to books, friendship, and the complexities of love.

I know this story will stay with me for a long while which is high praise because I easily forget even books I really enjoy. Something about this one feels heavy in my heart…it’s difficult for me to explain, but I consider that a compliment to the author.

I’ve been fascinated by Titanic since I was a child and I’m a librarian, so I suppose it seems unremarkable that I would enjoy a story combining the two. However, it’s important I convey that this isn’t some cheap Titanic story and that one certainly doesn’t have to be particularly interested in that tragedy to enjoy this book. This is the story of three people’s lives and the love they share…or don’t. Other reviews offer fine plot summaries so I’ll leave it at that.

Loved the author’s beautiful writing style and will now consider reading his other books. Grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book.

You know how you have those hyperspecific historical interests when you were a child? I had two of those: the Revolutionary War and the Titanic. I’ve always found the sinking an interesting encounter and while I wasn’t a fanatic of the movie, I liked consuming different forms of literature surrounding it. “Tonight on the Titanic,” “Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic,” “Distant Waves.” I was also a sucker for documentaries and those Ispy games centered around the Titanic.

I still have little pockets where I hyperfixate on the Titanic—documentaries and such. So, when I noticed “The Titanic Survivors Bookclub” on NetGalley, my interest piqued. The premise of the book is interesting, but I will caution: this is not about actual survivors. It’s about people who lucked out and couldn’t get on the boat last minute. If you’re looking about something specific about the Titanic, I’m sure there are many other books about it. Hell, there’s a movie.

Overall, I liked the book and I found it interesting. The dynamic between Haze, Yorick, and Zinnia is fascinating. (Spoilers from here.) Their relationship fluctuates from love triangle, to love circle, and then back. However, the entire time, I was waiting for them to have a polygamous relationship with each other. I was reading it with a friend and I kept saying, “I think it’s a why choose!”

Dear reader, it was not a why choose. And Mr. Schaffert, my jaw dropped when you killed Haze.

The other characters were also really interesting. I like how most of the other “survivors” were mainly nameless and Alice is a hoot. I love how she’s just kind of there and knows things and has connections.

Lastly, Haze really interested me. He was super elusive and probably wasn’t the best person, but tried to keep his wits about him. Whether he realized it or not, he found himself in an abusive relationship and kind of had to figure out how to allow himself to be loved, even when he was actively chasing Zinnia. Also, a bit I particularly liked was when he mentioned that he stopped taking pictures of people after the sinking and only started again when he became friends with Zinnia and Yorick. I enjoyed that.

While I enjoyed the story overall, I really think part three was unnecessary. I guess the point of that part was to let ghosts rest which could be argued about the Titanic and themes surrounding that. However, the turn into World War One and then Opal the clairvoyant all felt unneeded? I guess I just don’t really see the point of it. WWI, understandable because it started in 1914, but the clairvoyant?

Also, why did Zinnia and Haze need to get back together? It came out of left field with how part one ended. I guess it could be argued that Schaffert wanted us to feel the same way Yorick when he found out himself. However, again, I feel like it was unnecessary and didn’t contribute to the plot overall.

While I do have my criticisms, I do have a feeling this book will be something people will study later as years come and go. It’s an interesting premise and can be picked apart from many angles. It gives off the air of “The Great Gatsby,” if that makes any sense.

Thanks for the interesting readathon read!

A bookshop in Paris, a group of people who could have been on the Titanic but weren't, and a love triangle with a sad ending.

I didn't hate this book. I didn't love it either. Missed opportunities for possible stories of the survivors and a rushed ending made this kind of an unsatisfactory read. The writing itself is good, and I enjoy the mixed format with letters. I think I just went into this with different expectations than what I got.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

I can pretty well say that if a book has "Titanic" in the title I will be picking it up. While the title is originally what brought me to this, I stayed for the glorious writing. This writing is rich and tangible. I felt like I was sinking my teeth into every line of this book. This book is the definition of yearning. Without it being a romance novel, it is one of the most romantic books I have ever read. Yorick, Zinnia, and Haze's relationships throughout this novel felt so real and passionate. I found myself gawking at some of the lines in this book. It really is a love letter to literature as well. I found myself dying to go to a bookshop and browse the shelves. The way that books are described here reminds me of why I'm a reader. The care in which each novel and the bookshop as a whole was described leaves me speechless. The friendships with the other group members was lovely as well. Everyone's distinct personalities and the love they have for one another from their shared experience makes my heart happy as a lover of found family. This book has become one of my all time favorites. I think I could reread it over and over again and get something new out of it each time.

The Titanic Survivors Book Club has a beautiful premise: people who were supposed to be on Titanic but missed the voyage for different reasons (some decided not to go, some were forced to stay behind) get together for book club meetings in the months before the First World War. They find solace in each other and are able to form connections with others in the same unique situation they find themselves in.
Schaffert's writing is beautiful, and the book has great promise but fails to deliver on it.
The descriptions of the book club and Paris streets are wonderful; the characters are quirky and interesting; we get a bit of queer romance and a touch of historical fiction. But all these beautiful pieces never come together to a cohesive and deep story.
Characters go through stuff. They get together and separate. They write (or pretend to write) lots and lots of letters. Not much going on, really. Even with the war happening.
To me, the most exciting part was when the bookshop finally gets a sign and starts doing well.
Lots of promise that really went nowhere for me.

I am sure many people will still enjoy the book!

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday Books, for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Yorick was supposed to sail on the Titanic as its librarian, but circumstances changed and he was safely on land when the disaster struck. As it happened there were others who escaped death at the last minute, and they all received an invitation to meet. That meeting was the beginning of many changes for Yorick and everybody who attended. This novel delves into their various relationships and the evolution of Yorick's bookstore, with the backdrop of Paris before and during the First World War. .

The Titanic Survivors Book Club by Timothy Schaffert is a book like no other that I have read before. It follows Yorick, a former book steward for the White Star Line and now an ower of a book store. He was meant to sail on the Titanic however, he never boarded even though his name stills appeared as one of the missing. After recieving an invintation by an unknown sender, Yorick meets other "survivors". A gambler, an actress, an orphan, a preacher, a candy maker, a wine maker and her partner, a photographer, and a doctor. The toymaker whose whole line revolved around the White Star brand has brought them all together. They decide send out books and candy to the other survivors and discuss them. They are calling ithe group The Titanic Surviors Book Club. It is full love found and lost, forbidden love and a great historical fiction that I couldn't put down. All the books that were picked were ones that Yorick had stocked in the Titanic's library. All of the books were banned and not on a list for approval. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for letting me read an advance copy of this wonderful book.

Engaging, painful, and deeply human, This book pulls you in and makes you are about each character's story until the end.

Beautifully told historical fiction about a group of Parisians who did not board the Titanic and hence found themselves to be a different sort of survivors. Focused on Yorick, who bought a book store with a sudden inheritance after losing his Titanic Library Steward position, and the friendships he develops with Haze and Zinnia as Europe moves toward the Great War. An artfully developed series of characters and relationships, told through a lens of books, writers and letters.

Pretty good—I read it quickly though my interest waned the further along I got. At the beginning it felt like there some sinister undertones, like the characters weren’t all that they seemed, but that turned out to not be the case. The love triangle was interesting but sometimes just left me wondering: really?

Titanic and the tragedy surrounding the accident has long been an interest of mine. As a child I would read books like "Polar the Titanic Bear' and wonder about the lives lost and the lives saved. As an adult, and a queer one at that, the fact that Timothy Schaffert combined two things that I have an interest in made picking up "The Titanic Survivors Book Club" an easy choice. I never assumed that this book would have a happy ending -- I mean after all, it takes place in the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, but boy did this one hit me right in the chest.

I found myself intrinsically drawn to Yorick and his plights as both a 'survivor' of the Titanic, and a gay disabled person. Additionally, the fact that he is a bookseller also appealed to my librarian side. Without giving any spoilers away, I will say that I both enjoyed and railed against the ending of this book, particularly torn because I think we're conditioned to want a happy ending tied in a bow. Instead Schaffert provided us with some realism that while melancholic, rang truer to the lives we live today.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has interests that also lay with the Titanic.

I've been fascinated by the Titanic since, as a young girl, I watched the 1987 National Geographic documentary detailing how Robert Ballard found the long-lost ship. I will read almost anything related to the Titanic and this book was an instant request, knowing nothing about the premise or the author. A group of survivors of the Titanic, survivors of a different kind, form a book club. These survivors all had tickets to take the fateful voyage but for a myriad of reasons, didn't get on the ship, thus potentially saving their lives. Although I wished a book with Titanic in its name had more of the actual Titanic in it, I did enjoy the many references to famous books and the setting in Paris.

Yorick is an apprentice library and help to currate the libraries on luxury ships. When Yorick is about to board the Titanic, a superior takes over and leaveshim on the dock alone. Afterthe sinking of the Titanic he finds his name on the list of missing. He takes this brush of death as an opportunity to follow his dream. Opening a bookshop in Paris. One day as he is tending to his new shop, he recieves an invitation to a secret society of survivors. He loves his new life and even falls in love. The great war has other plans for this wealthy group of survivors. This is a wonderful and unique story that I could not put down.

This book is definitely going to be a hit with readers who like historical fiction with a twist. This book imagines a group of people who survived the Titanic because they never boarded the ship but were supposed to be on board. With that premise in mind, the group meets because they do experience 'survivors guilt' to a certain degree. As the story develops, the plot revolves more around the relationships that develop from this book.

Oh, and one of the 'survivors' owns a bookstore which is where most of the action takes place. There is also a photographer and a candy company heiress who befriend the bookseller. The story continues into the World War I era which made it interesting.

This book won't be published until April so I look forward to recommending it to readers at the library.

The Titanic Survivors Book Club begins with an intriguing premise but fails to improve because of bland characters, lacking dialogue and an overall boring story that failed to capture the time period or importance of the event.

As a lover of all things Titanic, I find most books that mention Titanic are not about the voyage itself but rather the people that were on it or in this case should have been on it. Most people expect the Jack and Rose love story and this is not that..but close..kind of.

This is a book about books and the way circumstances bring people together. I enjoyed this book as a casual read. I never became immersed in the story but it was lacking to the point I felt like I didn’t want to finish it. We are given an interesting cast of characters that end up in a love triangle with some LGBTQ rep and the author gives us vivid detail throughout as well.

I think this would be a really good book club book for sure. Worth the read if you enjoy historical fiction!

3.5 stars

A remarkable tale about the life-changing power of books, following the Titanic librarian whose survival upends the course of his life.

Like most other people, I became fascinated with the Titanic all things related after seeing James Cameron's movie. It also strikes me as supremely interesting history because it is rare that great tragedies are so preventable.

The survivors of the title are not people who were on the Titanic and survived, but people who were supposed to be on the ship and at the last minute did not board. They come together to form a book club where they discuss life, love, loss, and what might have been. The story is beautiful and quite interesting. It is rare to get such a powerful story from those whose injury is survivor's guilt.