Thank you to netgalley for a copy of SEVEN DAYS IN MAY in exchange for my honest review.

Let me preface this review by stating I did not finish the book. I got to the half way point, and while the story was interesting, it was not moving fast enough to keep my attention. Based on what I read, it seemed heavy in historical facts and the story line was a bit shallow. I didn't feel a connection with the majority of the characters and was disappointed that I didn't get more out of it, as I tend to enjoy historical fiction, but this one just really wasn't for me.

When I started this book, I had no idea that it was based on true events, Like the movie Titanic, the characters are made up; however, the events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania are true. The story is centered around two sisters (Brooke and Sydney Sinclair) who go aboard the ship from New York to sail to England. The sisters could not be more different. Brooke is a rich heiress intent on marrying an impoverished aristocrat for the title of Lady. Sydney , also an heiress, is a suffragette trying to educate on safe sex practices. Together, they set sail to celebrate Brooke's wedding in England.

A third woman, Isabel who works with the government receiving messages intercepted from Germany. She is trying to overcome a blemished past. I think of this book in my head as a movie that is somewhere between The Hunt For Red October and the Titanic. This book would be a fantastic movie!!!! It moved quickly, kept me on my toes, and had a love story as well. I couldn't ask for more. 4 stars

Very, very similar to a movie called "Titanic" but an overall good read and enjoyable. Glad the story of Room 40 was in there so that it didn't seem completely familiar. Loved the authors note about her connection to the story.

I read this as a summer book- and it was the perfect blend of history and romance- and a slight thriller component, mostly from knowing what's going to happen to the Luisitania. Most novels looking at the class differences, especially in the UK, during this period, are set in the great houses. The ship setting was different enough that most of the cliches fell away as you find yourself in the story. I was especially happy to read Isabel's story, alongside those of Sydney and Brooke, because hers is also a seldom told tale. Good writing, good plotting, all in all, a good read. Thanks to net galley for the ARC.

First let me start by saying that I love historical fiction. I really enjoyed the way this book was written the way that it went back and forth from each of the characters. At the beginning I expected it to be a chic lit read and was disappointed. Much to my delight and surprise it was not. It told the story of how and why the Lusitania sank, the errors that were made and relationships of the many characters. I found every facet of this story entertaining and look forward to reading other works by this author.

Boarding the Lusitania for a journey to England to be wed are Brooke Sinclair and her fiancé Edward Thorpe-Tracy, along with Brooke's sister, Sidney. While Brooke is effervescent, Sidney is ambivalent.

Their story is interspersed with the activities in Room 40, the British Intelligence Agency which deals with codes and ciphers. This group, especially Isabel Nelson, is drawn into the maneuverings of the German U-Boat, U-20. As information continues to come to Room 40, the code breakers become more and more uneasy and begin to question those in authority who are responsible for warning the Lusitania of impending submarine action.

I think it takes a particularly good storyteller to keep the reader's interest, and Kim Izzo does a wonderful job of this. I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of the Lusitania story!!

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Harper 360. pub date 05/02/17

I loved this book from the first sentence. It caught my attention right away and I didn't want to put it down. I would have bought this book if I saw it in the store! I think it was very well written and I liked all of the characters and their stories!

This was a rich and enjoyable read, an elevator pitch that would be something like What if The Bletchley Circle went to dinner at Downton Abbey and met Titanic. There are parallel and complex stories that bring not only the American passengers and British codebreakers to life but that tackle the era's response to female ambition and independence. At its heart the two sisters who embody very different eras - the Gilded Age past and the progressive future, help put the period's social and cultural climate into context. I also liked this novel a lot in part because of the many ways it connived to get me interested in the historical subject matter, and its real and fictional characters -- through a well-researched and very dramatic race against the clock that anatomizes the minutiae of the inevitably doomed crossing (the who knew what and when did they know it, something I would not be inclined to read in a drier, non-fiction context), covert workplace intrigue, a morally ambiguous military strategy, and more than one good old-fashioned love triangle. A lot of research in the background really brought the era to life for me.
As we consider the implications and circumstances around past world events like the sinking of the Lusitania (or the Reichstag Fire and the Gulf of Tonkin incident) and particularly in light of the current American regime's actions, it's good to bring some history into one's fiction. Especially when it's this entertaining!
UPDATED: I included this novel in my summer reading roundup for 24 Hours, link below.

Sorry, I couldn't get into this book and stopped reading after the first few chapters.

This is a well written, well researched book following the last voyage of the Lusitania. Written in two perspectives it is an entertaining read and I give it four stars.

Seven Days in May
by Kim Izzo (Goodreads Author)
108416
Nancy Cunningham's review Jun 21, 2017 · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: netgalley

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY lingered in my Kindle for quite a while before I started reading it---I love historical novels (the only way I have succeeded in learning any history) but was apparently resistant to spending time on a book about the sinking of the Lusitania. Once I picked it up, I didn't want to put it down.

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'll admit it is 118 degrees in the desert where I live and there are limited adventures available to a sensible person in this weather---so, perhaps, my generous rating has to do with the joy of escaping the heat (even if it is in the chilling waters of the ocean).

The book's appeal to me was partly in its feisty heroine---an eccentric (but, of course beautiful) black sheep of a wealthy American family. She was an early feminist and a clear embarrassment to her very social sister. This is all grist for a romantic potboiler, I know---and, there were elements of that in this book, but it was a very gripping and entertaining escape for me this summer and I appreciated the opportunity to gain some perspective on the danger the Lusitania faced as she sailed during the war.

The scenes on the ship were perhaps more appropriate to a PBS series than a serious historical encounter---but, they brought the story to life and I enjoyed it. The book also contained a parallel story about the British code-breakers that were following the ship's progress across the Atlantic--the dedication of that team and the challenges they faced were one of the more interesting aspects of the book.
NET GALLEY provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Seven Days in May follows four characters:
Sydney Sinclair - a young suffragette who is an advocate for birth control and portrayed as the black sheep
Brooke Sinclair - Sydney's sister, eager for fame and to be English royalty. The Sinclair sisters have inherited wealth from their parent's passing.
Edward Thorpe-Tracy - a sort of "mail order" groom enabling Brooke to married into British royalty. His family owns an estate but they have no money so Brooke and Edward enter into the perfect functional engagement. Apparently this was a thing for wealthy American women to do before WWI? He is about to enlist into the Royal Army.
Isabel Nelson - a secretary turned code decipherer in Room 40

The story was a light, enjoyable read. Most of the story takes place leading up to the torpedoing of the Lusitania. A love story really takes the focus of the Sinclair/Edward story line while Isabel is working in Room 40 (shades of The Imitation Game). The writing is pretty basic. I would consider it a light chick-lit fiction with some details about history in the story. I did not know anything about the sinking of the Lusitania. It was interesting to read about the one versus two torpedo conspiracy...

Thankfully the ending was not entirely where I thought Izzo was steering it.

Seven Days in May is based on the final voyage of the Lusitania, and it is common knowledge that her fate was to sink off the Irish Coast, victim to one of the deadly submarines of the German fleet in World War One. As such, it is quite hard to produce a novel with tension and a suggestion of an unknown final outcome, and yet author Kim Izzo manages to do so, by juxtaposition of the story of Sydney Sinclair, an American heiress on board and Isabel, a young woman working in the Admiralty offices in London.

Both these women have interesting personal stories to intertwine with the known facts about the Lusitania and this helps to maintain interest throughout. The role of the Admiralty, and Churchill in particular, adds further interest.. All in all a satisfying and interesting novel which also provides a lot of information about the ship, the society of the time and the way the war was managed in London.

My only comment is that there is a slight tendency to overwhelm the reader with bursts of information about the vessel at some points. This is fairly understandable as there is so much great research and information available and it must be irresistible to include at least some of the clearly painstaking research that has been undertaken. It is particularly understandable when the context of the novel, explained in the after notes, is understood.

An interesting and enjoyable novel but not one to take along on a cruise holiday!

As England fights the Germans, Room 40 is established to decode messages from the Germans. Isabel begins working in Room 40, continuing to receive messages tracking a German submarine near Ireland. At the same time, Brooke and Sydney Sinclair board the Lusitania, with Edward, Brooke's fiancee. I really liked both Isabel and Sydney, strong female characters fighting for their place in a time period not friendly towards ambitious and outspoken women. Knowing what happens to the Lusitania doesn't lessen the impact of reading the fates of the various characters, including the real life grandfather of the author. Recommended.

This is a great story of the sinking of the Lusitania told from 2 different viewpoints. The contrast between the various classes (including crew) on the ship and the people in London was well described. The fact that the reason for the sinking is still a mystery was also a key part of the book. The main female characters were intriguing an given greater depth than most of the men. The Room 40 sections were of great interest as I visited Bletchley Park only last year. Well worth reading.

This book was such an unexpected surprise - I was enthralled from cover to cover. It incorporated so much and so well, that I found each and every aspect engaging - and there are many. This is what historical fiction is all about - transporting you to another time and place, and on this occasion, from war torn London to the deck of a ship doomed for tragedy.

‘... received anonymous telegrams warning them not to sail on the Lusitania because “she was doomed,” the implication being the great ship was going to be torpedoed.’

Firstly you have the tale of the Lusitania. I consider myself a fairly well read historian but the light Izzo sheds on some facts here is heart-rending. Firstly let’s just consider how well she has written to take such an established story (we all know the ship is doomed) and make it into a page turning travesty. The sinking of the ship is so vivid, in fact quite graphic, that images from James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ immediately spring to mind. And knowing that it’s all true, is gut wrenching: of the 1959 passengers who sailed that fateful day, only 764 survived, of 33 babies on board only 6 survived. Some of the conspiracy theories are raised, the main one focussing around, “Does Churchill want the Germans to target a neutral ship just to get the Americans to join the war?”

‘Churchill would use it to lure the Americans into the conflict. Somehow in Isabel’s mind she thought that if she intercepted a message at the right time then she could prevent tragedy. What was the purpose of breaking codes if they couldn’t be used to save lives?’

Secondly there is the role of women during this period of time. Everything from women’s political rights, to reproductive rights, to Isabel and her working rights in the light of an extra-matrimonial affair. Isabel is such an interesting character and her role in ‘Room 40’ - the top secret office set on breaking through codes for the British Admiralty office - and her quest and concern is honourable to the very end.

‘Ever since she had transcribed the ship’s name on the target list she felt responsible for it.’

Then there is the fall of the English aristocracy and the investment of American dollars to keep them afloat. What were people prepared to do for their manor or a title? The high-life of American heiresses and stories of the rich and famous, that would eventually go down with the ship, are recounted here. Izzo gives you a true indication of the stark contrasts between how the rich compared to steerage passengers fared in the first few days of this luxury liner sailing.

‘Her sister belonged in a world that was fading from fashion only she was too immersed in it to see it. The European penchant for titles and class was on the edge of collapse; the war was going to see to that.’

‘He was caught between ideology and tradition, needs and wants, morality and duty. His honesty, however, was not for sale.’

Overall what you have here is a rich historical tale of two really strong female leads who are intelligent and inspirational in many ways. The writing is so engaging - I can smell the cigarette smoke in Room 40 and feel the sea breeze aboard the Lusitania - Izzo does it so well. The depth of research and integration with fiction is truly commendable - it’s real and authentic through and through. The alternating tale between what happens on board ship, with real time what happens behind the scenes at Whitehall and the Admiralty is engrossing. The final scenes of the torpedo and sinking of the ship are indeed harrowing and gut wrenching.

“The Lusitania ... not only are they the most luxurious and safest transatlantic passenger liners in the world, they also have the capacity to become the fastest and most powerful armed cruisers in the war, should the need arise.”

I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it to all lovers of historical fiction.

“We need to forget what happened and move on. We had seven wonderful days together ... let that be enough.”


This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

I learned quite a bit about the Lusitania's voyage and sinking from this well-researched novel.

This book has been brilliantly and sympathetically written. It has obviously been well researched and tells the story of the Lusitania beautifully. Having lived all my life in Northern Ireland it is a story I knew and this book tells it really well. The characters draw you into the story and keep you reading. I really wanted to know who survived the sinking of the Lusitania. The people in the book seemed so real and their individual stories add a lot to this book and set the scene perfectly. It is really interesting to find out about this part of World War One. I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it and want to read it again myself.

A lovely read switching between two perspectives and covering the well known story of the sinking of the Justinian

This is the first story I have ever read about the sinking of the Lusitania, and I enjoyed the historical pieces that went into the book, but the main story just couldn't hold my interest.

I really had a hard time connecting with this book. I just found that most of the main characters were not very likeable. Brooke came off as very superficial, even though there were times that it was inferred that she was business-savvy. The circumstances surrounding her engagement really did not endear me to either Brooke, nor to Edward. Sydney was a bit more likeable, but I found it a little off-putting how she decided to attempt to push her progressive views on the women she was with on the ship. I had a hard time connecting with the "romance" of the characters; I didn't quite buy that 7 days of very little interaction with someone would let you fall so deeply in love with them that you are willing to throw caution to the wind and risk hurting others that you love.

I actually liked the storyline that contained Isabelle and the others working in Room 40 better. It added to the suspense, even though I knew that the Lusitania would go down... While Isabelle was one of the most likeable of the main characters, I cringed when she was reading notes that were not intended for her eyes, and then talking about information she should not have been.

Some of the minor characters were likeable and entertaining, which kept me reading through until the end, in order to find out what happened to them. Other readers of historical fiction might enjoy this book, but it just wasn't for me.