Barbara M. reviewed on 5/22/2025 + 163 more book reviews

This was on some list of good books to read. It's a historical novel about the sinking of the Lusitania, a real ship (British passenger liner) that was sunk by the Germans during WWI. The author is a historian and did a massive amount of research for this book--the last 70 pages are "notes," a bibliography, and index. I knew about the Lusitania so there was no mystery about the ending. It took a while for me to get into the story. The author started with the passengers boarding in NYC to sail to Liverpool. The characters were real life passengers. The author went to great lengths in describing their clothing, their conversations with others, etc. I found some of it annoying as it came across as the author saying "see how much research I've done on this story--I even know what some of these folks were wearing." However, as the ship got closer to where it was ultimately sunk, I became more engrossed in the story. POSSIBLE SPOILERS: The surprising thing revealed in the book was that the Brits were aware that German subs had been and were stalking various parts of the ocean near the British Isles. In spite of that, the Lusitania was not told to divert from this area and was also not given an escort of battleships to ensure it safely made it to port. Furthermore, after the ship was sunk, the Lusitania's Captain Turner was blamed for the ship being sunk. Captain Turner survived the sinking, and an independent inquiry (which the British government tried to derail) exonerated him. There were American passengers on the Lusitania, and the British government was aware of this. The US had not yet entered WWI. US President Woodrow Wilson came across as weak-willed and indecisive. The Brits thought that one way American might finally enter the war was if there were Americans on board a passenger liner that was sunk by the Germans. So, it certainly seemed that leaving the Lusitania unprotected as it neared its destination was a calculated move by the Brits in hopes that America would finally enter the war.

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