Every once and a while it's nice to read books on history and non-fiction. #Maiden Voyages by #Sian Evans is wonderful. He explores how women's lives were transformed by the Golden Age of ocean liner travel between Europe and America.
They were celebrities, migrants and millionaires, refugees, aristocrats and crew members. Whose stories you might find interesting......
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley,#Sian Evans and # St. Martin's Press

This story tells how women took ocean liners to cross the Atlantic. The book was very well-written but the subject matter was not very fascinating.

Thank You to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be a very interesting read about the beginnings of women in maritime careers, from the first great Ocean Liners and evolving through both Great Wars. The courage and tenacity of women who were drawn to lives aboard vessels and spent their lives finding ways to maintain those careers, even in times of great strife and war. Careers evolving from serving the patrons of famous ocean liners, to becoming nurses on war ships, to accompanying children being shipped to places safer than their home countries during the war.
Many advanced to positions of authority and helped younger women to achieve their dreams of advancement.
Not only does this book showcase these brave women but it provides a history of the way travel changed on ocean liners and their function during both wars.
History buff or not, many people will find enjoyment in the pages of this tome.

This was one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. The title had me intrigued and I was completely caught up from the first few pages. The history of women on the sea was one I truly knew nothing about and Maiden Voyages was an eye opener as to the role women played throughout history on the ocean liners. This is an extremely well written book and the fact that it tells. not only the stories of the women who sailed as stewardesses and other positions but also the women that sailed as passengers. I highly recommend this book! Thank you so much to the publisher for the requested advanced copy for my honest review.

No one likes to write a bad review, and unfortunately I have to compose one for Sian Evans Maiden Voyages, a richly detailed nonfiction work about the Golden Age of ocean travel - the early twentieth century - and the women who traveled and worked aboard the ships. Sounds interesting, right? Although I typically do not read much nonfiction, I was excited and all in when I started this book, but Evans quickly lost my interest. The problem? She tries to do too much, too fast, and the result is a head-spinning amalgamation of everything "ocean liner" ... even stuff that wasn't about women!

This book reads like a documentary views. In fact, it would likely make a great documentary film because Evans uses anecdote after anecdote to describe life aboard these ships. I could see these stories told against a backdrop of photo and video from the times. In a book, however, it doesn't work because there is no common thread running through these pages. Evans bombards readers with one fact, one anecdote after another, and the result is overwhelming.

I thought I was going to be reading a book that provided an intimate portrait of little known women of the times who traveled and worked aboard ocean liners. I expected to learn much about what life was like on these ships, and what it would have been like to be a woman working aboard one in a time so drastically different from the career-driven female workforce era of today. Instead, Evans uses already well-established facts and stories, and rehashes them throughout her book. I am not sure that there is really anything new to learn here that can't be found elsewhere, making this book, frankly, quite the disappointment.

I love women’s history and will grab any book/audiobook on this subject any chance I can get! I love to learn new things!!

The Maiden Voyage tells the story of the women who worked on luxurious ocean liners like the Titanic and Lusitania during the golden age and also, about those that traveled via these ships. We read/hear the untold stories of celebrities, migrants, millionaires, refugees, aristocrats and crew members.

Evans shares with us information from individual accounts and diaries along with, what must have been, an enormous amount of research to deliver such a detailed account of history.

I’ve always been fascinated with the behind the scenes of transatlantic travel during the 20th centruy and this book/audiobook was a great history lesson for me! Some non-fiction historical stories can be dry at times, but I felt Jilly Bond did a fantastic job of narrating this book and bringing the stories to life.

I’d recommend this to any of my history-loving friends who love to read about women pioneers.

A fascinating look at how woman went against the norms to blaze a travel trail. I enjoyed reading this well researched book and getting to know the tough and gritty women whose stories come to life in the pages.

This book was an interesting read. I feel like I learned a lot. It had some twists I did not expect. Definitely sharing with friends!

Thank you to the author Sian Evans, the publisher St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This is the history of the women who sailed the seas on ocean transatlantic ships. The Golden Era of transatlantic travel was between the first and second world wars. Prior to World War I, only the very poorest women worked outside of the house. During WWI, women were asked to fill in for the men who went to fight. So, after the war ended, many women did not want to go back to the status quo. This is the history and stories of those women who were fortunate enough and brave enough to sail the seas. It is the story of both the working women and also those passengers that they served.

It was a bit repetitive at times, but a wonderful history of the Golden Age.

Resilience of women in all classes of society are illustrated in this historical account of women crossing the Atlantic ocean in search for new lives, new opportunities, or just high society.

Maiden Voyages gives us a in-depth look at not only the many ocean liners over the years, but the role that women played (or didn't have the opportunity to play) in relation to these ships. While some of the information was really quite interesting, I felt a lot of times we kept getting lost in the weeds. It was very in-depth which shows it was clearly well-researched, but again, sometimes it was a little much for me. But nonfiction isn't my favorite genre, so that could very well be on me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very interesting informative read. I love when non fiction reads like historical fiction. Enjoyed reading about these strong willed resilient women.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of the way this book read. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!

Maiden Voyages had such promise. Stories of different women whose lives were transformed by the golden age of ocean liner travel. Violet Jessop, for example, started working on ocean liners in 1908. She survived the sinking of the Titanic, and the HMHS Brtiannic, and was also on the ship RMS Olympic when it collided with a British Warship. She was known as the Unsinkable Stewardess. I thought this book would have more stories like this, or at least the book would be more about these types of stories. But it seemed to be more about the ocean liners. Personally, I think a little less detail about the ships, and a little more about the people, particularly the women would have made this a better book to read.

The authors research was impeccable and very thorough, for me that was very much a positive to this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Siàn Evans for the eARC/ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A very interesting portrayal of women and their travel and plight from travelling from the old world to the new.

Hearing the stories of these women... Their backgrounds, what their duties were, was a real eye opener for me and made me want to know more.

Lots of interesting facts and information and this book is a great resource for anyone wanting to know more about the time and women's history.

Worth the read 4 stars.

What a fantastic read. I never knew sailing the Atlantic was so social and exciting outside of the movies. It was so interesting to hear about these mostly forgotten women from so many different walks of life and how their lives were changed just by getting on a ship. It’s a time that’s gone by for this mode of transportation’s heyday but this book is a wonderful way to keep that time alive for future generations.

Thank you to St Martin's Press/MacMillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I found this to be very fascinating detailing the lives of the crew of women who worked on ocean liners. A friend of mine had talked about the documentary of Violet Jessup so I was excited to hear this would cover her life as well as others. To me, I found this book to be informative and well researched that I learned many fascinating things about the ocean liners and how the need for women to be a part of the sailing history grew with the company and societies changing views.
I think the author did a good job in illustrating how it truly is a village of women both on land and sea in lifting each other up, encouraging independence and making way for future generations. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in looking for an enjoyable read who doesn't mind a bit of backstory on the ship building and following these women's stories.

Ahhh, the Golden Age of travel! It all seemed so glamorous, until it wasn’t. This book specifically explores the role of women on these early ocean liners. Before reading this book, ocean travel stirred up images of designer fashion, bottomless cocktails, and grand staircases. After reading this book, my views have become less glamorous to more realistic. I learned about the role of the stewardess and conductors aboard these ships, the lengths women would go to stow away in coal compartments to start a new life, the role of these ships during prohibition and the WWII persecution of the Jews. We do get a little celebrity spotting with cameos from Wallace Simpson and Heddy LaMar. This book was so interesting and informative, and written in a way that was easy to read.

Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. I was interested in this book to learn more about travel via ocean liners by women over the years. It was such an interesting read! From movie stars to royalty to women working to insure safe transport for immigrants traveling from Europe to the US or Canada. I also enjoyed learning how service on board changed over time and how companies competed with each other like with lessons and shows showed by Olympic swimmers and etc. Enjoy the read with a cup of tea!

The beginning of this, with the background of the ships and crews, almost made me stop the book. I am glad I pushed through, but be advised there is some background building the beginning. This was not a topic that I would have pursued had I not been given a chance to read/listen to this story, but I was very intrigued to learn about these women.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.