Sisters of Fortune

A Novel of the Titanic

De: Anna Lee Huber

Narrado por: Emily Sutton-Smith

April, 1912: It's the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe—sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they've seen and contemplate the futures that await them.

For Alice, there's foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiance's plans for her return—a cossetted existence she's no longer sure she wants.

Flora is returning to a fiance, a well-to-do banker of whom her parents heartily approve. Another man—charming, exasperating, completely unsuitable—occupies her thoughts, daring her to follow her desires.

Youngest sister Mabel knows her parents arranged this Grand Tour to separate her from a jazz musician. But Mabel has little interest in marrying at all, preferring to explore ideas of suffrage and reform—even if it forces a rift with her family.

Each sister grapples with the choices before her as the grand vessel glides through the Atlantic waters. Until, on an infamous night, fate intervenes, forever altering their lives . . .

©2024 Anna Aycock (P)2024 Tantor

A story about real people’s lives on the Titanic not so the sinking of the ship. Different than most Titanic stories

There was nothing I disliked about the book. I did read a story about the mother cat who took her kittens off the ship while docked

You can almost smell the salty air.

The voice transitions were flawless. I was hooked from the beginning. It's the book version of Titanic the Movie, and like always much better.

Absolutely Gripping Novel Brilliantly Written!

This review os about teh Audible version of this book.

I have always been fascinated by the Titanic in all its forms: News of the day, memoirs and fictional books, the movies and TV shows, plus the exhibits that feature so many intriguing facts. I have seen every movie made about the tragic sinking of the Titanic and will continue to eagerly read books and watch shows and movies about it.

This book was brilliantly written, and it was amazing to me to read so many facts, and marvel at the volume of detailed information that Ms. Anna Lee Huber inserts between the story about the Fortune family while they traveled on the Titanic.

Even though I know full well how the main story ends, it is still gripping to learn about a new set of protagonists, and how they were affected by the tragedy.

This is such an engaging story, told in such a wonderful way. Descriptions of Titanic locations and of customs and idiosyncrasies of the era are fascinating and well told.

After the book ends, I was going to research information about how the author conducted her research, but I did not need to do that, because there is a lengthy Authors' Note that gives so much information about her research. I loved this explanation.

I have most of Ms. Anna Lee Huber's books and have not had a chance to listen to them yet, but I will make sure to start listening to her Verity Kent historical mystery series very soon.

I also have to state that the narrator, Ms. Emily Sutton-Smith does a superb job of "performing" the story. I look forward o listening to more books narrated by her.

I highly recommend this book to any historical mystery fans.


Reading Progress

Character development

Loved the story and that it was part historical and part fiction. Interesting how that era thought and truly believed.

Nice recounting of Titanic

Good story telling but a bit more lengthy than necessary in development of characters. Ending ok .

Narrator mistakes

Narrator and director (since they never corected her)needs to learn the correct pronunciations for the word “forte”. She said “fort” instead of fawr-tey every time the word came up.

Meh, the ending was graat

April, 1912: The largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built, set sail for its fateful maiden voyage - forever changing the lives of all 2,240 people on board.

Most everyone knows the tragic history of the RMS Titanic. But how much do you know about the passengers that were on board? This book is based on the true story of the Fortune sisters, Alice, Flora & Mabel, and their pilgrimage across the Atlantic on that infamous journey. 

I found the first two-thirds of the book to be extremely boring and slow. I also feel like there were WAY too many characters to ever really get a chance to truly get to know and understand them. It seemed like the author was trying to fill the book with as many actual historical figures that were on the Titanic as possible. While I appreciate including some of the more well-known passengers (Isador & Ida Strauss, The Unsinkable Molly Brown), it may have been better to just leave it at them. Or maybe even just briefly mention them, but then focus more on the others instead. It was just too much to include them all.

The final third of the book however, was amazing. Once the Titanic hits the iceberg, the story really picks up and I had a hard time putting the book down. Although I knew the fate of the ship, it was still heartbreaking to read and I couldn't wait to find out the fate of the main characters. Excellent story telling! 

If you're finding it difficult to get through the beginning, don't give up! The ending is worth the ride.

The Fortune Sisters

I enjoyed the characters, amazed by the descriptions of the Titanic, and liked the entire saga.

The writer brought the saga to life Good character development. A good view of society of the day.

I enjoyed the whole book. The characters were real and the descriptions were well written.

Too many characters to keep straight

Very difficult to follow the characters as an audiobook. Maybe better in print. The printed book has a list of characters in the front that helps