The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
Historical Fiction – 1915 and 2013
From the Authors: From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Forgotten Room comes a captivating historical mystery, infused with romance, that links the lives of three women across a century—two deep in the past, one in the present—to the doomed passenger liner, RMS Lusitania.
May 2013
Her finances are in dire straits and bestselling author Sarah Blake is struggling to find a big idea for her next book. Desperate, she breaks the one promise she made to her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother and opens an old chest that belonged to her great-grandfather, who died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915. What she discovers there could change history. Sarah embarks on an ambitious journey to England to enlist the help of John Langford, a recently disgraced Member of Parliament whose family archives might contain the only key to the long-ago catastrophe. . . .
April 1915
Southern belle Caroline Telfair Hochstetter’s marriage is in crisis. Her formerly attentive industrialist husband, Gilbert, has become remote, pre-occupied with business . . . and something else that she can’t quite put a finger on. She’s hoping a trip to London in Lusitania’s lavish first-class accommodations will help them reconnect—but she can’t ignore the spark she feels for her old friend, Robert Langford, who turns out to be on the same voyage. Feeling restless and longing for a different existence, Caroline is determined to stop being a bystander, and take charge of her own life. . . .
Tessa Fairweather is traveling second-class on the Lusitania, returning home to Devon. Or at least, that’s her story. Tessa has never left the United States and her English accent is a hasty fake. She’s really Tennessee Schaff, the daughter of a roving con man, and she can steal and forge just about anything. But she’s had enough. Her partner has promised that if they can pull off this one last heist aboard the Lusitania, they’ll finally leave the game behind. Tess desperately wants to believe that, but Tess has the uneasy feeling there’s something about this job that isn’t as it seems. . . .
As the Lusitania steams toward its fate, three women work against time to unravel a plot that will change the course of their own lives . . . and history itself.
My Take: A few reasons I was immediately drawn to this book:
- Lovely cover! Which leads me to reason #2 …
- Steamships. I’ve had a love affair with them for over twenty years now. Then I read Dead Wake by Erik Larson last year which is a non-fiction account of Lusitania and World War I. His discussion of the topic was fantastic and inspired me to incorporate WWI into my writing.
- I’ve read two other books by Beatriz Williams (Overseas and Along the Infinite Sea) and loved both of them. Highly recommend! I haven’t read anything by Lauren Willig and Karen White yet, but I certainly will.
- Three authors wrote this together. As an author myself, I had to see how they did.
So let’s discuss #4. Three authors wrote this book. Three people with three writing styles who are looking at the story from three different viewpoints … and you could not tell. Each author wrote one of the three main characters, but they fit so flawlessly together that I had no idea who wrote which part. Both primary and secondary characters maintained the same feel throughout the book, and I only found one continuity error. One! Either these women have linked up their brains or have one heck of an editor. As an author, I can’t imagine trying to meld two thought processes into coherence, let alone three, and make it all sound wonderful.
From the description of the ship and historical events of the era to the conspiracy plot lines and entangled romance, I felt so much for these characters and stayed up far too late to find out who survived after that fated torpedo strike. I’m glad to say that the end was satisfying, although not exactly what I was expecting. Tragic yet hopeful. I’m really looking forward to reading these authors’ other collaboration, The Forgotten Room, and seeing what else they might pull together.
More information about the authors can be found here: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White
Kelsey Gietl 
I am so glad you read and reviewed the Glass Ocean. I had the same questions you did about the melding of three different authors, styles, approaches to writing etc. Fascinating! I’ve added it to my must read list after your review as it had been hanging out in the, “I will get to it pile.” Thank you!
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