This story was so heartbreaking and hopeful and just so good, I couldn’t put it down. Elinor breaks my heart for many reason, she is without a mother, she absolutely adores her father but is swept away in a quick marriage and doesn’t want to tell him about how unhappy she is, she is in a loveless marriage, and her son, literally minutes after being born, is taken away from her and raised by a nanny. At one point she says she has only seen his for 100 hours or roughly 4 days in the first year of his life?! How terrible and cruel! The first class tickets on the Titanic that her father gifts herself, her son, her father, her maid, and her husband Fredrick, is the first time she can be happy and be around her son. After the Titanic goes down, she decides to do what’s best for her and her son, and steal a woman’s identity to escape their fates back in England. I do not blame her at all for all that she does to survive and the lies she must tell. She only wants to keep her son safe and with her. It was such a lovely story about motherhood and family while such a heartbreaking story about the Titanic and all this young girl must endure by the age of 22. There’s so much more that happens in the story. Highly recommend reading!

Thank you so much NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Frances Quinn for this incredible and moving e-ARC.

Elinor Coombs married into an aristocratic family, but they were more interested in her father's fortune than her. They insist on a nanny raising her son, and she is miserable hemmed in by their strict social rules. Her father sends her tickets for the maiden voyage of the Titanic, allowing her a little more time with her son Teddy. When it sinks, she takes on a dead woman's name in New York City, determined to create a new life for herself and her son. Not all secrets can remain hidden, even in such a large city.

We start with a flash forward of the Titanic sinking, then go back to the courtship and rapid marriage. Any fan of Regency and Edwardian romance novels will recognize the conventions that are discussed, but Elinor's husband isn't a romance novel hero. He's stuck in his usual mindset and never bothered explaining anything to Elinor. He let her assume it was a love match, and the attitudes of the time period and class meant she wouldn't raise her son. She would get an hour-a-day visit, and he'd be sent to a boarding school at age seven, prep school at thirteen, then college. If she had a daughter, she could "keep her at home and make a pet of her." From more working class and hands-on parenting background, this is horrifying for her, but her inlaws have no interest in making her comfortable, only using her fortune and erasing her background. I really felt for her and the situation she was caught in with no recourse; if she didn't bend to their ways, they would label her a madwoman and then institutionalize her.

By the time the Titanic happens, we're halfway through the novel. The second half is where she lives as Molly, the woman who had helped her take care of Teddy on the ship. The two had similar backgrounds and Molly had been estranged from family, making it easier for her to take on the name. She works hard in New York City to make sure she repays this family and can provide for her son, so we see what life is like for immigrant families in the period. Other survivors are in the city, and flashes of the past threaten her new life. She might have lied a lot about herself, but she had incredible strength in this section of the book. I was so proud of her efforts and the conclusion to the novel

A very good historical that reads super quickly. Elinor Combes is a rich manufacturer's daughter who is deftly manipulated into a seeming fairy tale marriage with the heir to a Count, only to discover there is no love, and her family are incredibly controlling, especially of the son who soon arrives. After a few years of increasing defeat, Elinor jumps at the chance to join her father, with her husband and son, on the maiden voyage of the new ship Titanic. Only she and her son survive, and knowing with her husbands death she will have no access to her son Teddy, she decides to take on the life of another woman and a new start in New York City - as long as no one discovers who she is.
As I said before, this reads very quickly, so the early, very aggravating first section (Victorian aristocrats will make you want to scream) goes by fast and then things really get interesting in New York. Elinor is a believable character, though you will occasionally want to shake her, and all the other characters are quite well developed. Plotting is well thought out and not predictable. The sense of turn-of-the-century New York is splendid, and a major character in itself. Highly recommended.

The Epilogue leaves the perfect amount of intrigue, while still setting up the world/journey! The (first few chapters of the) novel is written in a way that makes you feel like you're reading letters, and as if you're being told a personal story by a survivor, or a friend! I love that! i feel like the pacing is a little slow in the beginning, but I like the detail that's put into each page/chapter! The main character (Elinor) is one of the strongest women anyone could read about. I love and admire her so much. The amount of foreshadowing towards the events of the Titanic is insaneeee, i love it! I love the relationships that happen in the second half of the book, they're very precious and real! The tension in the last few chapters is unbearable!!! My gosh, Elinor is so extremely strong, I admire her so much! I seriously love this book. I'd recommend it any day!

Title: The Lost Passenger
Author: Frances Quinn         
Genre: Historical fiction        
Rating:  4.5  out of 5

Sometimes it takes a disaster to change your life.

Marrying above your social class can come with unexpected consequences, as Elinor Coombes discovers when she is swept into a fairy-tale marriage with the son of an aristocratic English family. She soon realizes that it was the appeal of her father’s hard-earned wealth rather than her pretty face that attracted her new husband and his family. Curtailed by rigid social rules that include being allowed to see her nanny-raised infant son for only moments each day, Elinor resigns herself to a lonely future. So a present from her father—tickets for the maiden voyage of a luxurious new ship called the Titanic—offers a welcome escape from the cold, controlling atmosphere of her husband’s ancestral home, and some precious time with her little son, Teddy.

When the ship goes down, Elinor grasps the opportunity to take Teddy and start a new life—but only if they can disappear completely, listed among the dead. Penniless and using another woman’s name, she must learn to survive in New York City, a brash new world that couldn’t be more different from her own, and to keep their secret safe. But alas, it's not safe—she's been spotted by another survivor who's eager to profit from his discovery.

I loved this story! I liked Elinor from the beginning, and I felt her heartbreak when she found out her husband married her for her money (Although I was suspicious of him anyway). I had a feeling who he was cheating on her with, and his mother was truly terrible. The description of the actual sinking of the Titanic was well-done and very sad.

I loved Elinor’s life in New York, as she learned to stand on her own two feet and make her way in the world as a successful businesswoman and a mother. The secondary characters were believable and I read this straight through in one sitting.

Frances Quinn is a journalist. The Lost Passenger is her new novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 2/27)

I read many books about the Titanic. This one is probably the best fiction book that I have read on the subject. What we have here is a story of a woman that wanted to marry for love and when that fails and the Titanic disaster intervenes, she takes advantage of the situation to possibly get the life she thinks she deserves.

Details……Elinor’s marriage was a complete disaster, her son Teddy is pretty much being raised by Nannie’s and her husband is not at all what he portrayed himself to be. Elinor’s father buys them a ticket for the maiden voyage of the Titanic and this is where some things fall apart. This is the part of the story I really enjoyed and found unique. I don’t want to spoil anything but Elinor is going to completely change the story when she befriends a woman named Molly onboard the ship.

This was an excellent read.

Elinor is the daughter of the "Cotton King" a wealthy self-made man. She is swept off her feet by Frederick, the future Lord of Winterton Hall, and is excited to start her aristocratic life. She soon discovers though, that her husband married her for her father's wealth, and his family despises her 'low brow' ways. She is soon trapped in a very difficult marriage and family situation. Once she gives birth to her son, Teddy, she finds she only expected to spend 20 minutes a day with him, and will not be allowed to be a true mother to him.

When her father presents her with tickets to join him on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, she joins her husband and son on the ship. When her maid decides not to travel, she meets a young woman, Molly, who asks to help her as a lady's maid and a helper with Teddy.

When the ship goes down, Elinor and her son survive, and she realizes she has the chance to escape, and start a new life, with a new identity as Molly, in New York City with Molly's family.

The writing was very good in this book. The characters were excellently drawn, especially Elinor and Molly's family, along with Lissy who was Elinor's friend at Winterton Hall. The descriptions of the sinking of the ship were haunting, and the descriptions of the hard life in New York city were very realistic.

I was pulled in very quickly, and was routing for Elinor throughout the book.

I enjoyed the ending, particularly the epilogue, which left me with a shiver running up my spine.

I will definitely read more of Quinn's work.

The sinking of the Titanic allows a young mother to reinvent herself and leave her husband’s controlling aristocratic family behind. Elinor “becomes” a young woman who was pregnant and traveling to America for a better life. She has conflicts of conscience as she comes to care for the family she is deceiving. Frances Quinn is thorough in showing the cost of deception. I just wish Elinor had stopped lying sooner.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have always appreciated the stories around the Titanic and remember when Robert Ballard found the shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean in 1985. And I love historical fiction based upon real events, so this book was right up my alley. It did not disappoint.

Elinor is the child of a wealthy industrialist who earned all his money. She helps her father with the family business and takes great pride in the fact that one day she will take over the business because she is an only child. However, her father has more traditional views about some things and essentially marries her off to an English aristocrat. Elinor goes along with it because she has developed deep feelings for the man, and all indications are that he feels the same. However, after the wedding, her husband reveals he only married her for her family’s money and treats her cruelly.

The first 30-40% of the book is all about Elinor’s adjustment to her stultifying life with the moneyed class. She offers to look over the estate accounts and help with improvements and efficiencies since she did the same thing for her father. She is promptly shut down, and everyone in her husband’s family keeps trying to reform and squelch her manners, speech, and in short, toe the party line. Her husband’s will says in the event of his death, his parents will become guardians of Teddy, leaving Elinor absolutely nothing.

When Elinor gives birth to a son, an heir for the estate, she finds that her in-laws do not want her involved with her son as much as she wants to. She only gets to visit him once a day for about 30 minutes. When her father offers up a trip to America on the new White Star Line’s unsinkable ship, the Titanic, Elinor looks forward to spending some real time with her son and father.

When the unthinkable happens, and the great ship goes down, Elinor hatches a plan. She takes the name of her maid, who was heading to the United States to live with her relatives, who had never met her before. And so, the rest of the book is how Elinor and Teddy adjust to life in America and fool her maid’s family.

This is a great read for those that love historical fiction. Be patient with the story, as it does take a while before Elinor boards the Titanic with her husband, father, and maid. I would give this book a solid four stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not a huge historical fiction reader, but this story was compelling and enjoyable--I wound up rooting for Elinor. The beginning is a little slow, since I think I was expecting us to get to the Titanic much sooner, but all Quinn brings it all full circle. I'd pick up another of her books after reading this, and it would probably be a good book club pick.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman uses the tragedy of the Titanic to escape a stifling aristocratic life for her and her son.

The synopsis really gives a lot away but that okay. The story is still intense, even after the Titanic voyage. While this story is similar in plot to the Titanic movie, there is not a romance (thankfully!). This book is solely about a young woman’s resilience, strength, and dedication to her son.

“We’d been given a chance to go on with our lives, when so many others had lost theirs. What if I decided not to waste that chance on a life that would make us both miserable?

The Lost Passenger comes out 2/25.

What a wonderful historical drama in a time era that I love reading about. How ones life can change. How do you go on and make a new life for yourself and your child. This is in 1912 when life was so very different, and then the new life must take place in a new country.

Elinor Hayward was the daughter of a wealthy father. Growing up in England, her father known as "The Cotton King". Life change for her and married a man from a higher society level. So many rules in a higher society and living with what were really strangers to her. They only wanted her father's wealth and for her to bear an heir. She called her son, Teddy. Elinor was so unhappy where she had to live finding out this husband did not love her at all.

Her father offered a generous gift of a cruise on a ship to America. What a break it would be away from the the unhappy life with this family of her husband's. They all would go, father, her, Teddy, Nanny and her husband. Tragedy happened the night the ship hit an iceberg. Her husband making sure she and the little one got a seat on the life boat. Not knowing she would ever see her father and husband again.

The disaster made it so that she must figure out she would go on in life, and in a country foreign. She took the identity of another woman. Learning new skills and how to get on in life. The reason I wanted to read this book is I love historical fiction and learning the name of the ship intrigued me.

Thank you Frances Quinn for a wonderful read, my first of one of your books. Planning on reading more of your writings. And thank you to Random House for choosing me to read her book. Also thank you to Net Galley as always.

A remarkable story of a woman brave enough to throw away her present unhappy life and become someone else. Elinor is trapped in a cold marriage but one day an escape plan is right in front of her. Her father has two tickets for her on the maiden voyage of the Titanic so she boards the ship with her young son. The ship sinks and Elinor takes the chance to become someone else and take another woman’s identity. But she has to learn how to navigate a world unknown to her.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Elinor Coombs survived the sinking of the Titanic. It'll be harder to escape the life she left behind.
It's hard to think why a woman would choose to leave money and a title to live hard scrabble in New York City, but this was so well written that I cheered for her until the end.

Well written historical fiction with strong women characters. Besides being a well paced family drama with excellent characters, this book dealt with many social issues of the early 1900s including class inequities, gender inequities, and immigrant experiences. I couldn't put it down and read it straight through in two days. Highly recommmended

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced reader copy.

Amazing story. I loved it. What a beautiful story of survival, mother's love and courage. So so good, emotional - so well written. So much detail, so vivid - I dont normally binge a historical fiction book but I found myself so sucked in I wanted to know what would happen to Elinor. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was my first book from Frances Quinn and I enjoyed it! I look forward to reading more books from Frances.

Oh wow! I loved this book! The story had a new slant on lots of things, the Titanic, the upper-class Titled English, the rich self-made people, the immigrants, the lower east side of New York, and carts, the living conditions, and a very determined strong woman! Loved it all. I very highly recommend this to anyone and everyone! Great book!

3.5 stars. Historical fiction about a strong woman who forges a new life for herself and her toddler son when they survive the sinking of the Titanic. This was well-written, and I liked the character of Elinor, flaws and all. Elinor, the daughter of a wealthy self-made man, is trapped in a constricting marriage to an aristocrat who tricked her into marrying him so that her father's funds could prop up his family's estate. Worse, when Elinor gives birth to the male heir of the family, her time with her son is severely limited and she has to toe the family line to get any time with him at all. When her father treats Elinor, her husband, and their son to the inaugural sailing of the Titanic, Elinor jumps at the chance to have time with her father and son. After the tragic accident, Elinor and her son are among the survivors, and she decides to escape her life in England by taking on the identity of her maid, who has drowned. This means that Elinor lies to a family of very nice people (who had never met said maid in person) and lives with them, but she works hard and suffers a lot of angst over the lies, so I guess that's okay? There was a Chekhov's gun that was never used, which was frustrating, and everything worked out a little too neatly, but this was still enjoyable historical fiction with richly drawn characters and setting. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a digital review copy.

Elinor Coombes is tricked into a marriage with an aristocratic man who is in love with another woman. Elinor has a son, Teddy, with her husband but has no chance to raise him due to an overbearing mother-in-law and Nanny. She has the opportunity to travel on the Titanic and jumps at the chance to get away and spend quality time with Teddy and her father. We all know what happens to the Titanic, but Elinor and Teddy survive the sinking and arrive in America. Elinor assumes the identity of a lost passenger and starts a new life in America, but her old life catches up with her and she is afraid she will have to return her son to her in-laws.

This was a really interesting read! I was drawn in immediately and couldn't put the book down when Elinor went on the Titanic. I will admit that the second half of the book went in a totally different direction than I was expecting and wasn't as engaging as the first half of the book. When Elinor's past comes back to haunt her around 80% into the book I was fully engaged again and I was satisfied with the ending. This is the first historical fiction that I have read in a while and my overall rating is 5 stars and I added this book to my wishlist.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the advanced copy. The Lost Passenger is available on February 25, 2025.