This a story is about the Titanic. What most readers of books about the Titanic focus from the point of view of passengers in first class. This book offers a change in that the point of view is from those in third class and a steward serving the third class cabins. The main character, Maggie, is a 17-year old woman leaving her sweetheart behind in Ireland to travel to a new life in America, along with 13 others in her little village. The book mainly describes her experiences and bewilderment on board the Titanic and her amazement even at the little things, since she has been so sheltered her entire life.

I enjoyed the description of life in third class, but that was one of the few things I found enjoyable about this book.  A good half of the book was in italics, they delineate flashbacks. Maybe some of us will have difficulty with the flashbacks of flashbacks already. The book takes place in 1912 and in 1982. There were flashbacks in 1912. There were flashbacks of 1982.

I have no problems with flashbacks. I love getting more insight and details into the main characters' lives and thoughts. My main problem with the flashbacks in this book was that there were too many of them. This would not be a problem if not for the fact that most of them were irrelevant and did not much contribute to the storyline. It's like in the middle of Maggie's tale, sudenly we get a glimpse of the life of a random fellow traveler who didn't really contribute anything and I get really impatient reading it .

Suggested Discussion Questions

1. The Titanic disaster is one of the most documented historical events of the last century. By reading the book, what new information did you learn about Titanic? What most surprised you about the ship or the life of passengers on board?

a.P. 336, p.341,p349,p 351: a group of fourteen Irish emigrants who left their homes in County Mayo, Ireland, to travel onTitanic to relatives in America. Only 2 of them survived in USA. After 90 years old. Maggie came back home with her granddaughter. And find that she never be neglected. They are waiting for her back for 73years.

When her sweet heart who took apart from her, find out that she survive, fly to USA and married her. Titanic is a sad story for others. And they seem blessed by all 1500 people.

Cos her hub died who changed his name from Seamus to James, cos Seamus is hard for America to pronounce. Since James passed away, Maggie is reluctant to talk about the accident. But while she came back home, she find the strength of love power and tell her granddaughter Grace the name’s secret. Grace names after his own mom.

b.P. 207: Time is a great storyteller. Don’t need to speak for yourself. Let time be the writer.

c.P.208 Maggie: I have lived a very happy life because of Titanic. Life is fragile, it is more than a petal of cheery blossom. Thriving and in full bloom one minute and blown to the ground by a sudden gust of wind the next.

d.P.209 God rest her soul, on an unknown path. It take our time to get off the ship. Get used to the unplanned path. So you can take a good rest. And we all need an old woman with a bit of story to help you on our way. Old dog will teach us new trick by his experience.

e.P.212 Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief

 They will find stronger strength behind it

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind
-William Wordsworth

f.P. 214 live a life of hope, don’t live a life of regret.

g. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  They did for the sake of reincarnation of agape love.

2. We all know the fate of Titanic. What impact does this knowledge have on you as read the book?

a. any accident is cruel, behind the scene, we can feel the blessing and help the survivor to keep on living better and better.

b. p.113 675 souls, mostly women and children saved, men are so great to scarify themselves. From Buddhism, they say woman needs to wait for 500 reincarnation for his man. No wonder man is so great. They are willing or unwilling to be great.

3. Emigration was very common in Ireland in 1912,with many families separated with the belief and hop that there was a better standard of living to be found in America. The “American wakes”were common occurrences across the country, marking the departure of loved ones. Have you experienced emigration in your own family?How would you feel if you had to make a decision similar to that made by the Irish emigrants who set sail on Titanic?

a. A lot of People from Mainland Chain during the War first and War second. We heard a lot of sad stories. But they also rich our soul and life.

4. The passengers on Titanic are forced to make impossible decisions as the ship is sinking – wives leaving husbands, mothers leaving children in the care of their nannies. Whad do you think you would have done – or hope you would have done –under the circumstances ?

 a. p.323 p.12,14 Meggie named her son Harry. Cos Harry whose mom is gonna celebrate his 23 birthday till he return from Titanic. But he do did a great birthday gift to save 17-year Maggie’s life via helping her send a free telegram from Titanic. Although she can’t offer the price of a telegram. That blessed message was only helf sent before Titanic hit the iceberg. Don’t hesitate to help! Even Harry has no any relationship with Meggie. He really did a great job. The message sent half except the words”don’t wait” what a destiny of life. Seamus do wait and come to USA. (p. 171)

b. p.177 Harry’s mom” Mind that you look after those third-class passengers just the same as you would any of those wealthy Americans.” Harry had to get to Peggy and the Irish girls . He had to get them to the lifeboats.

5. The various warnings and predictions of disaster that the Ballysheen group experiences – the reading of the tea leaves, the warning from the stranger at Queenstown, the dropped “lucky” sovereign –are based on recorded facts.The near miss with the New York in Southampton docks at the very start of Titanic’s journey also really happened. Discuss the many aspects of superstition and myth that surround Titanic.

 a. p.209 reading the notion of tea leaves better than tea bag

6. Discuss the ordeal of the survivors when they were in the lifeboats for almost 8 hours and after they were picked up by Carpathia for several days. Andmany survivors were reluctant to talk about their experiences. As for Maggie,what do you think about her reluctance to talk about Titanic with her own family?

a.p.205” It seemed to me that you needed a story and I knew that I had one of the best to tell you, so Maggie gave Grace her a best story on her birthday while Maggie was 70.

b.p 323 a million memories whirling around in Maggie’s mind. What they need is a good listener. Like Grace is a good listener and help her to collect all the pearls of Titanic back.

7. Does the part of Maggie’s husband is actually Seamus surprised you? Why?

a. It’s really a sweet surprise and a cure all pill for all the lost soul

8. Has any of you been on a cruise trip before and been on board a ship as huge as the Titanic, maybe you would like to share your experiences.    .

a. p.82 from the case, she save all the precious of treasures: brooch, a pair of black cotton gloves, a Bible, a set of rosary beads and a bottle of holy water, a green third-class health inspection certificate , a menu card , a small book and a bundle of newspaper clippings.- sometimes what we need to keep a cruise trip safer is to make our heart safer

Conclusion:

This story is a little superficial. At the end, we feel being fooled by Maggie. It seems to us that she is the most lucky one though. For 150 victims of the Titanic, Halifax, Nova Scotia (on the East Coast of Canada) proved to be the final stop for the doomed voyage. Some survivor like Cosmo Duff. Gordon is not so lucky to carry all the guilty and allegations till he died. At that time, the lifeboat is only cover 37%, but right now the improved to 70%.

Related reading

http://www.hazelgaynor.com/background-to-the-book/

a book review by Diane Brandley: The Girl Who Came Home, A Novel of the Titanic

http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/girl-who-came-home-novel-titanic

http://www.nejman.com/todiefor/halifax.htm

https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/sir-cosmo-duff-gordon.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Duff-Gordon