Thank you NetGalley, author Sian Evans, and Two Roads publishing for giving me a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
5 stars
This book was an amazingly in depth look at the history of the women that worked on great ocean liners of the 20th century. I loved how comprehensive this book was on such a topic that I had little familiarity with. This author was able to blend military, social, and personal commentary about some women that are well known historical figures as well as some women that have been forgotten by history, but were not less important to the roles that they played within the war efforts especially. I also appreciated how well researched this book was. It was not just a regurgitation of dates and facts, but an inside look into the hopes and dreams of these women that worked in a high demanding, and sometimes dangerous, job. I would recommend this book to those who have ever wondered what it must be look to work on an ocean liner. This was my first book by this author and it will not be my last. I can't wait to read more books by this author in the future.

Maiden Voyages by Siân Evans tells the stories of the women who were vital to overseas travels in the early 1900s. Reading about the women who braved the seas, survived the tragedy of the Titanic, as well as the torpedoing of other ships (sometimes, more than once!) sheds light on the importance of their service and their history.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I found it fascinating learning about ocean liner transportation as an industry and how it evolved with and for women's roles in society. This was filled with facts and anecdotes so I sometimes found my attention wavering. I especially enjoyed learning about Violet Jessop, the “Unsinkable Stewardess’ and wished the author had stuck with each woman's story until its fruition rather than flip flop between this and with historical facts of the ocean liner industry. I recommend this to readers of nonfiction who enjoy women’s history and the vast changes they faced in the 20th century.

A special thank you to the publisher and to netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

I thought Siân Evans did an excellent job of explaining the importance of women in the history of ocean liners. As the World Wars drafted men into military service, traditionally male roles on ships were increasingly being filled by females. Historically, women were considered bad luck on ships, but that changed drastically in the 20th Century.

The author also shows how cruise ships have adapted to the needs of modern world travelers, not only as a means to get from place to place, but also as a vehicle for dining, relaxation, and entertainment.

This book is particularly fascinating because the reader learns the history of the great liners through the perspective of many of the women who sailed - both crew members and passengers.

You can almost hear those mighty steam whistles blowas this book sets sail into a lively recounting of the ships that changed history and the women who broke the sea's age-old bad luck superstition by working and/or sailing on them. It's part shipbuilding history, with digressions into major social and political upheavals of the era, but the true heart lies in the women's lives. These women are dynamic, making and breaking and remaking their careers upon the waves or while crossing them, their histories sometimes cautionary and often life-affirming.

The glamorous female passengers--famed for celebrity or notoriety--were deliberately courted by the liners' home offices, and by the author, to attract the eye. They range from the rich and scandalous Thelma Furness, twice divorced mistress of the Prince of Wales, to entertainer Josephine Baker, whose first transatlantic crossing brought her to Paris where she later made her name, and her longtime home. There was even an Olympic swimming champion who talked and taught her way into becoming the world's first ocean liner social activities director.

The women who waited upon them I found equally fascinating: crofters' daughters or German frauleins leaving their villages for domestic service afloat, and widows offered jobs by the company their husbands had worked for, who left their children in the care of relatives on shore for the demanding and sometimes dangerous jobs as stewardesses or chaperones on the sea. Those women, especially the stewardesses, were expected to charm the passengers, be friendly with the officers, keep the lower decks in their place, and be on their feet and on call sixteen or more hours out of the twenty-four. They walked a narrow line between discouraging male advances to keep their reputations and maintaining an approachable air to keep the passengers and their shipmates happy with them.

All in all, this book is a fascinating look at the age of ocean liners through the eyes of women, all the way from the luxurious upper decks to the cramped crew quarters at the waterline. The author gives much credit to her great-uncle, a lifelong Cunard employee whose connections to old shipmates gave her an inexhaustible source of anecdotes, memories, and explanations for the ways of the great liners at sea.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the free review copy.
This isn't my normal non-fiction read, but I'm glad I took the chance on this book. It was so interesting. Starting with stewardesses on the Titanic and moving forward through history, the author painted a picture of how women changed and shaped the ocean liner industry. I also enjoyed how other important historical events were explored in relation to this topic. These women's lives were so fascinating. I liked how there was a focus on specific women and then on women as a whole during the periods covered in this book.
Highly recommend to history buffs, and if you're fascinated by ocean liners, I would recommend giving this one a chance.

This social history reads like a very interesting thesis or dissertation. #maidenvoyages was full of interesting facts about women working in the maritime industry before, during and after the World Wars-the heyday of ocean travel-when it was mostly dominated by men. I really enjoyed this and thought it was well-organized and full of interesting information. The footnotes, index and extensive references all point to an author who takes her task seriously. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for this ebook to read and review.

Maiden Voyages is a descriptive non fiction book about women's successful sea voyages on the ocean liners mainly across the North Atlantic. These women were from different class strata and these extraordinary women were actresses, nurses, stewardess, instructors and everything in between. The book goes into details about these magnificent ocean liners and the the workings of them.
I was invited to read this book and I was really excited seeing the subject matter. I love descriptive books and this was no exception. However saying that this one is too descriptive. Its almost like a history textbook. I would have loved if the author would have had chapters divided in years or individual women chapters. Right now the women are introduced randomly in places and though its seamless its very hard to get your head around it. I did like reading this book though and definitely a good book if you love to read about the ocean liners.

Siân Evans's Maiden Voyages explores how women’s lives were transformed by the Golden Age of ocean liner travel between Europe and North America.During the early twentieth century, transatlantic travel was the province of the great ocean liners. It was an extraordinary undertaking made by many women, whose lives were changed forever by their journeys between the Old World and the New. People traveled for many reasons--for pleasure, for their job, and later to escape persecution. Maiden Voyages is a fascinating portrait of these women as they crossed the Atlantic. The ocean liner was divided by class: from the luxury of the upper deck, to the cramped conditions of steerage or third class travel. In first class you’ll meet A-listers like Marlene Dietrich, Wallis Simpson, and Josephine Baker; the second class carried a new generation of professional and independent women, like pioneering interior designer Sibyl Colefax. Down in steerage, you’ll follow the journey of émigré Maria Riffelmacher as she escapes poverty in Europe. Bustling between decks is a crew of female workers, including Violet “The Unsinkable Stewardess” Jessop, who survived the Titanic disaster. Entertaining and informative, Maiden Voyages captures the golden age of ocean liners through the stories of the women whose transatlantic journeys changed the shape of society on both sides of the globe.

I did not know what to expect when I requested this ARC from NetGalley and was surprised and fascinated by the stories of these women who worked on the ocean liners. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. I also loved all the detail about the ocean liners themselves and could see that the author put a great deal of research into the writing of the book.

I was drawn to this nonfiction book about women and ocean voyages because I really love vacationing on a cruise ship. A great deal of research went into this book about the women who work on the ships and also the rich and famous who traveled for pleasure. Before air travel became the preferred mode of crossing oceans, ships were the only option. I especially enjoyed the stories of how the ships and the crew adjusted to war time travel to support the war efforts.

You can really tell that Sian did her research on this one! This book just takes you back in time and paints a great picture of what life was like on ships and what life was like as a woman working on a ship. With that being said, it was way more detailed than I think it needed to be. I wanted a little more about the women in specific, not necessarily the history of the ships and the culture surrounding specific timelines focused throughout the book. I wanted more emotion, not necessarily repetitive factual information. If you enjoyed Radium Girls or Hidden Figures, I think you will really like this one!

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans. Sian Evans has written a book sparked by the fact that her great-great uncle was a Chief Officer for the Cunard ship line aboard the Aquitania. The book covers the grand era of traveling via ocean liner, and specifically the woman's role on the ships. Although there were many ship lines, this book focused mainly on the ships sailing out of England such as the Cunard ship line.. After World War I ended, many people wished to leave Europe to travel to the US and Canada. Some people were desperate to leave Europe to get to North America. The ships created new jobs for many woman that allowed them to work for a couple of weeks, return home with their pay and then set off again on another trip. Of course the women were not paid as much, and there were many more men on the ships. But with the number of women sailing on the ships, a need was created for women to tend to the travelers as stewardesses, seamstresses, hairdressers, etc. Some women found ways to entertain or teach swimming lessons. The ship lines wanted to offer a full line of services to its passengers.
Although most of the jobs involved taking care of the passengers, many of the women fell in love with sea travel and spent most of their lives on the ships working. The ships liked when celebrities travelled on their ships because other travelers would not only like to travel with them, but being on a ship might allow closer contact to them. And it was a great way for the ship lines to market that the rich and famous sailed on their ships. Many of the rich and famous liked to use the grand staircase on so many of the ships, to make grand entrances wearing beautiful gowns and jewelry. After World War II when jets could fly between continents in hours rather than days, ocean travel dwindled down. The ships began to market themselves as a place to go for a floating holiday, a precursor to the cruise ships of today. Maiden Voyages is a very interesting book telling the stories of some of the women and their innovative ways to work on the ships along with some of the women that sailed on the ships as passengers.

This book is full of fascinating women, remarkable ships, and (unfortunately) the many horrors of war that marked the beginning of the 20th century. I really appreciate how it frames the liberation of women and their ever-increasing roles at sea within the frame of the prosperous years and the wars and how it all seems to be tightly interrelated.
It's interesting in that it's both a slightly superficial and super in-depth look at the women that first began to take to the seas in an era when crossing the Atlantic in super luxurious oceanliners was the height of luxury and the only way to travel. I say it's both superficial and in-depth because it really goes into the story of some of the most notable/memorable vessels and a few of the women, but it also feels like it only mentions some important people and events in passing.
It could also have been about 100 pages shorted if it didn't repeat the same information over and over. At times, it reminded me of having to make a word count for a school project and constantly reiterating things that had already been expressed just to make it as wordy as possible.
Even with all of that, I have to praise Evans for shining a light on a whole generation of women that took to the seas to change their lives and ended up affecting change for women everywhere.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the very interesting read!

I received an ARC ebook from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a review. Maiden Voyages tells the story of women's role in the ship industry. The story is full of historical details about the industry with the women's stories interspersed. It started a bit slow and chaotic for me but it picked up quickly. The information was fascinating and a good insight into the evolution of the industry and the role that women played. The individual stories were interesting and added to the overall story. Detail filled but definitely worth the read.

This book is an extensive look at the changing role of women employed on ocean liners as well as a look at the history of ocean liners in general. It covers the earliest days when very few women worked on ships to more recent days when more ship-related occupations began opening up to women. It shows how what was going on in the world affected what roles were open to women and how it changed sea travel in general. The book is quite informative and so jampacked with information that it can be overwhelming at times. Also, it can be confusing at times because it jumps around quickly from one topic and or person to another and then sometimes goes back again to a topic or person previously mentioned. It is very interesting, however, and you can certainly learn a lot by reading it.

Maiden Voyages was very informative about how women got into the labor force of passenger liners. So many opportunities were available to them to help further their station in life and give them a source of income. Sian Evans also weaved in the world's outside circumstances throughout the years that influenced passenger travel.. Learned quite a bit and was honored to read this as an ARC.

Maiden Voyages captures the golden age of ocean liners through the stories of the women whose transatlantic journeys changed the shape of society on both sides of the globe.

This had a lot of great history of cruise ship industry. I love cruising so it was great to read the history. I had wanted some more personal stories however, and I felt like the tidbits included were just sprinkled in, instead of the focus. This was still a great book, just not about what I thought it would be about. I did find it a bit of a slow read however. Lots of fun facts and interesting history, but it still felt at times to really drag.


*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

This book came to my attention directly from the publisher - and I'm glad to have read it! The bulk of the book takes place between the World Wars - though it covers a bit before and after, focusing on the roles of women on board large ocean liners. Evans focuses on a few specific women - like Violet Jessop - a woman who survived the sinking of two ships (including the Titanic) and one ship collision, earning her the nickname of being "unsinkable" - and others like Edith Sowerbutts who worked as a conductress to assist women and children emigrating. The romance, decor and place in the minds of society that these large ships held also unfolds along with the change of women going from being considered "unlucky" on board, to then taking on the nurturing roles all the way to becoming certified to man the life boats.

The author's own grandfather captained one of the ships featured so the author's own passion for the subject is obvious. Some ships included are common household names - like the Titanic, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. Evans provides windows into a variety of roles and positions open to women - from shipboard entertainment, as passengers, swimming instructors, nurses, stewardess and the first female engineer. The vignettes included are fascinating - and well as including the overall rise and decline of the massive ships, it features a specific segment of women's history. It reads smoothly - although the concluding summaries at the ends of each chapter and the conclusion of the book itself does read a bit redundantly. But, it makes for a fun summer read and a chance to learn a bit more. I imagine that this would be a great resource for any author looking to set a book on board one of these ships any time from the 1910s through the 1960s. I am happy to have read this one and I think it would also make a good choice for any book clubs looking to highlight more of women's history!

Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans is a compilation of biographies of women who crossed the ocean in an ocean liner in the 1900s. Some were short, some were long. Many contained stories of the voyage, a world that no longer exists and was beyond interesting. All strata of society were included from the uber-rich to the employees who took care of the guests. Vignettes like this are excellent because most are not worth of a book of its own and yet are an important part of history. It was well-researched and well-told and a non-fiction lover would be enthralled. The stories were told in an engaging way and it was an interesting book to read. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Maiden Voyages by St. Martin's Press through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. Netgalley #stmartinspress #maidenvoyages

A competent account of the Golden Age of ocean liners and the women who worked and traveled on them.

This is a satisfactorily researched account of the subject, though I was expecting at least some new information and more sophisticated writing.

If you don’t read much nonfiction or aren’t at all familiar with the subject, this book will probably be more appealing to you than it was for me. Evans has correctly and competently researched and organized the information, but there’s nothing close to original research here. If you read up on this subject (even historical fiction that focuses on it), you’ve heard most of this before.

The highlight for those already aware of the subject becomes the anecdotal stories, which help liven up the book and at least provided a handful of new-to-me content.

The writing is also competent but fairly unsophisticated and while it flows well in parts the way narrative nonfiction should (mostly during the anecdotal portions of the text), it’s clunky and oversimplified in others.

This is a decent overview if you’re completely new to the time period and topic, but this is too simplistically written and thin on unique content for your typical Historical Nonfiction reader.