The Glass Ocean

Though the ocean might have been like glass, the disturbance that came under the ocean was horrific.  This is a story based on the sinking of the Lusitania.  The Glass Ocean is a collaboration of three wonderful authors, Beatriz Williams, Lisa Wingate, and Karen White.  

I am not sure how much of this story is really based on fact, but the authors did say they referenced Erik Larson's Dead Wake when writing this novel. This is a fictionalized interpretation of that fateful journey.

In this novel we follow the story of Caroline Hochstetter and her inattentive husband, Gilbert as they board the ship for its ill-fated trip across the ocean from NYC to Liverpool.  Also on that boat is an old friend of Caroline's, Robert Langford, who has loved her for years.  There are three German spies caught as the ship sets sail and locked in the brig.  Word has it on board there could be more people willing to sabotage the trip for the German cause.  Gilbert has a treasured manuscript he is carrying to Britain, and he has many secret business meetings while on board.  Left to her own devices, Caroline, hurt and angry at her husband's abandonment, turns to Robert for comfort.  Two other women play an important part in this novel,  Ginny and Tess, sisters who are also on board for their own nefarious reasons.

To learn about the past we meet Sarah Blake, a young novelist who had a big bestseller, and now is looking for her next great novel.  The opening scene with her attending a book discussion group who have read her book for their monthly meeting is so well written and funny.  But she really needs a good story to write, so she takes a box out of the closet and discovers a relative that was on the Lusitania and starts to do her do diligence.  Her research leads her to England and the newly disgraced John Langford.  

Together they set out uncover what happened on that fateful trip across the ocean.

This is an entertaining romance both past and present that makes for fun reading.  You are definitely making guesses as you read of how you think it will turn out at the end and there are twists and turns that make you change your mind along the way, so that there was a surprise for me when I got to the end of the book.  

After reading Dead Wake myself, I do recognize some of the facts that were mentioned, but maybe some creative license was taken to create this story.