This historical fiction revolves around the tragic sinking of the Titanic. A young woman who has discovered the truth behind her marriage and about her husband's real love takes a chance for a new life when she and her son are among the survivors. Her life is nothing like it used to be, but she makes opportunities for herself and finds the acceptance she was lacking in her previous life.

I really loved this book. It was original and had me engaged from the first page. Elinor had her bad moments, but overall she was a likeable character and she really tried to do what she thought was best for her young son.

Thanks to Random House Pub/Ballantine and NetGalley for the ebook. All thoughts are my own.

I love stories about the Titanic and especially enjoyed this one about a young mother who sees the tragedy as her way to get out of a loveless and soul-crushing marriage. The twists and turns were surprising and the book warmed my heart with its focus on found family, forgiveness, and redemption. The details about early 20th century New York are also so interesting. Highly recommend!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this historical novel by Frances Quinn. “An immersive historical drama about a young mother who starts a new life with her son in New York after faking their deaths on the Titanic.”

The pages practically turned themselves. The flow was very good, and I found myself getting lost in the story. This is always a good sign for me that I’m reading something I should be.

If you enjoy historical fiction, you will most likely enjoy this book. If you don’t enjoy historical fiction, you will most likely still enjoy this book! The story takes the main character from a world of entitlement, wealth, and strict rules to a world of disadvantage and privation, but at the same time, unlimited opportunities to experience unconditional love and freedom. Basically, a chance to be the best version of herself and have unlimited success.

The Lost Passenger has a publication date of February 25, 2025. Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for my ARC, Advance Reader’s Copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very well written, and I felt like I was living life right along with Elinor. At times it felt a touch long, but still a great read. Would definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

When, out of the blue, Elinor Hayward and her father are invited to a New Year's gala at the home of their neighbors, Lord and Lady Burnham, she is unaware that shortly she will be a part of their family - and she won't see her father for a long time. When Frederick Coombes, their son and heir, "happens" upon her hiding behind a column at the ball, Elinor is enchanted. The idea of playing out the stories in her favorite romance novels leads her to accept Frederick's subsequent proposal, and the wedding is all she could have hoped for.

But then, she realizes that Frederick has married her simply to use her father's money to keep up their country estate, so he can continue to live as he always has lived, and carry on the traditions of 14 generations. When Elinor finds herself pregnant with the "heir", her circumstances improve some, but she soon realizes that this baby belongs to the family and not to her. She scarcely sees him and if she insists on spending time with him, she is threatened with being declared mentally ill and possibly hospitalized!

Before her marriage, Elinor and her father had closely followed the newspaper articles about the building of the Titanic, the largest, fastest, safest and most luxurious vessel ever built. And her father keeps his promise and gifts them with tickets for the maiden voyage to New York. Against the wishes of her in-laws, they set out and we all know what happened on that voyage.

But Elinor and her son, Teddy, are the only ones of their travelling party to survive and she realizes she has a chance to change their lives, if only she can get away with posing as the lady's maid/nanny she hired on the spot at the dock just before they sailed. Mollie was going to New York to start a new life with relatives she had never met, so Elinor gives Mollie's name when asked to identify herself and moves in with Mollie's relatives.

Although she is totally unprepared for the living conditions, she is able to adapt rather quickly and soon feels safe in her new life. But circumstances arise which put that life in danger and she has to face the fact that she is living a lie.

A little slow to get going, but a good read and I would not mind hearing more about this young woman and her son!

I love historical fiction and read a lot of it. The Lost Passenger called to me because of its pre-WWI Britain and USA settings, an era not typically covered by historical fiction. Overall, I enjoyed but didn't love, this novel. To me, it felt formulaic and predictable, which can be a good thing depending on what you are looking for - I consider it "historical fiction lite."
The lead character, Elinor, is a strong and capable woman, and I appreciate her growth and development throughout the book. However, her strong reaction toward upper-class child-rearing expectations felt forced. Even though Elinor is a "new rich" person, she spent her life in British society, so it fell flat that she was shocked there was a plan for her son to attend boarding school. Sometimes, it felt like modern sensibilities overlayed onto early 20th-century characters. From that perspective, the historical aspects of the book were not as interesting as people's stories told.

If you loved The Titanic movie, there is a lot you will probably enjoy in this book. It leans more towards Susan Meisner-esque, so if she is a favored author, I predict you'll enjoy The Lost Passenger.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an ebook version of the novel in exchange for a review.

Elinor Coombes and Molly Mortimer, who are they? What are their secrets? What is their legacy?

This book “wowed” me from beginning to end. It’s highly engaging and I kept wanting to know more about the main female protagonist.

Titanic lore is fascinating to me so I was all too eager to dive into The Lost Passenger.
Will one woman’s act of bravery be her undoing? Will it help her to succeed in life after the sinking of Titanic? These are all questions I asked myself as I tore through this book.
A historical fiction about lost and found identities, starting over, and the sacrifices made along the way made this book thoroughly enjoyable for me as a reader. I feel confident others will think the same.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me to read The Lost Passenger.

The Lost Passenger was a wonderful tale of a women who thinks she has found a love match in her husband but finds out quickly hers was a marriage for her fathers wealth. Stuck in a house where she has no say, even when it comes time to raise her son she receives tickets from her father to take the maiden voyage of the Titanic. When the Titanic is no more Elinor sees an opportunity to start over to save both herself and herself from a life she never wanted.

This book was wonderfully written, with an interesting concept of a provided opportunity and the desperation it takes sometimes to make people do the unthinkable. I loved the characters, especially Molly’s family.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received an advance reading copy (arc) of this book from the publisher and NetGalley.com in exchange for a fair review. The sinking of the Titanic always makes for an interesting topic. This book centers around a British aristocrat, Elinor Coombes, who is in the midst of an unhappy marriage and a titled family who bars her from raising her son. She is looking for a way out so when she boards the Titanic with her father, husband, and son, she looks forward to sixteen days of being away from her dominating in-laws. When the ship sinks, she escapes with her son and takes on the identity of someone who was lost. She forges a new life for herself and her boy in New York City. While it was a good read, some of the storyline seems contrived and a little hard to believe. She comes to America with nothing and embeds herself in a family that believes she belongs to them. Eventually, her lies are revealed, but all's well that ends well. Give it a try. You may like it more than I did.

I loved this historical fiction novel. Taking the story of the Titanic and putting the fictional Elinor on it with her child, Teddy, was fantastic. The research for this novel is obvious with every detail of the Titanic and the way people were acting as the ship was sinking. Providing the opportunity for her to escape her titled husband's family and make a way for her & her son in New York is entertaining. Seeing how she navigates being someone else with their family, which is believable because of the time period and living across the ocean from each other up to that point, keeps you on the edge of your seat because like Elinor you wonder if she will be found out. Highly recommend reading this to see how Elinor got to the Titanic and what happens to her in New York.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Elinor has arranged marriage to Frederick in London 1910. She is not accepted in the wealthy class so is unhappy. The family travel on Titanic ship to New York several years later. She and her son are saved and arrive in NY where she takes on a different identity. Excellent book.

4.5 ⭐️

This was the Titanic historical fiction of my dreams!!! I adored this book start to finish. I’ve always loved the story surrounding this ship, and the twist of Elinor and her son was engaging and interesting. It broke my heart at times seeing what women faced during this time period but I appreciate what this novel highlights. Elinor thinks she found her dream man in Frederick but that quickly turns into a nightmare after finding out he married her for money. She finds a way out and how to take control of her life after the ship sinks - leaving her vulnerable but hopeful. I loved the character development here and was engaged until the end! Such a beautiful story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Elinor is a young but intelligent 19-year old. She finds herself in a loveless and controlling marriage that she's desperate to escape, especially for the sake of her son. When Elinor's father gifts her and her husband tickets on the Titanic, Elinor's chance to start over comes in the midst of tragedy.

The reader is treated to the growth of Elinor throughout the story. I loved how she started out daring and young, lost herself a bit along the way, and ended up stronger and shrewder than she started. I found her experiences very relatable. The historical accuracy of the book was very well done as well. New York in the 1910s and the sinking of the Titanic was also well researched!

The Lost Passenger is a story of survival. And my need to find out whether main character Elinor Coombes survives all of her surprising ordeals -including sinking of the Titanic (poignantly described) - kept me up until 2 a.m. to finish! I absolutely could not put it down.

This is an excellent story that will appeal to fans of historical fiction and regency romance as it achieves a good balance not being too heavy on either genre.

Elinor is the only daughter of the Cotton King - her father owns cotton mills in Manchester, England She is new money and is only 19 when she and her father are invited to a ball. Their kind never gets invited to balls and Elinor is thrilled to go. There she is singled out by Frederick, son of Lord Storton as the Storton estate desperately needs money to continue on. Frederick pretends to love her and they quickly marry, but Frederick is keeping a secret from young Elinor.

This is not Downton Abbey, more like Downton Abbey gone wrong. The Stortons consider Elinor so far beneath her that they treat her like a stock animal and not a daughter-in-law. They talk over her and constantly put her down when she tries to make a suggestion.. She is lonely and has no real friends and is struggling to cope. The Stortons control everything in Elinor’s life including how to raise Elinor’s son, Teddy. Elinor is miserable and sees no way out of her captive life.

The only thing Elinor can look forward to is a surprise trip on the Titanic which is a gift from her beloved father. Elinor schemes to take her son along without a nanny, so she can have 16 days of peace and freedom with her son. When the ship sinks, Elinor’s life is changed forever.

Post the sinking of the Titanic we are transported to the tenements of New York city and Frances Quinn does an excellent job of describing life in the Gilded Age among the poor and recent immigrants.

I would be eager to read another book by this author and would also welcome a sequel to this book.. The Lost Passage has a great ending with a peak towards the future. The book is a page-turner that I thoroughly enjoyed. The description of the suffering and sinking of the Titanic was very moving. I am grateful to have received an ARC of this book.

A wonderful book about a woman finding her way in the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic. Elinor is a woman of privilege born into a family whose money came from the cotton industry. Wanting to follow in her parent's footsteps, she marries a Lord in what she believes is a love match. Only after the wedding does she find out he only married her for her money. Confined in a house and marriage where she is unwanted and unloved, disliked and ignored she quietly begins to lose herself to keep the peace with her new family. When her father offers to take her, her husband, and their son on the maiden voyage of the Titanic she jumps at the chance to get out of the ever-judgmental eye of her MIL. Now finding herself in a strange city across the ocean, she's left with the choice of returning to her cloistered life with no say in the upbringing of her child and breaking free in this new world.

The writing reminded me of Allison Pataki. Especially The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post. Fans of hers would definitely enjoy this book.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn is the breakout debute by this author. It is a fascinating historical drama. As one can tell from the cover, this story has something to do with the Titanic. However it’s not what you think. This story describes life after the Titanic disaster by one of its passengers.

Elinor, our main character, is the old daughter of a self-made millionaire. Her father is a loving, jovial and memorable man who one will not soon forget. The relationship between father and daughter is wonderful. Elinor naively enters into a loveless marriage with a man who has a ‘title’. The only reason this marriage exists is because her new husband’s family is in need of her money, a fact neither Elinor or her father are aware of.

After missing her father and enduring the strict traditions of the English aristocracy, Elinor is
thrilled by the opportunity to escape her in-laws and their expectations when her father treats her, her husband and their 2-year old son to the maiden voyage of the Titanic. We all know what happened there. However, Elinor and her son survive the horror of the ship’s sinking, Elinor assumes a new identity, that of a working class woman/victim and attempts to make a new life for herself and her son in New York.

The story juxtaposes the strict traditions of the English aristocracy with the amazing opportunities of a bustling, vibrant and energetic young New York City. Having only grown up only less than an hour away, this was my favorite theme of the book. The descriptions of a young New York City are very vivid, well researched and well written. You can feel the atmosphere and the hope of these people as they begin their life in the land of opportunity. It felt like I was traveling back time.

Another overriding theme was how the book explored ones identity, determination, resilience
and the courage it takes to start over. It also had another overarching theme of that of the survivors of the Titanic which is not a subject I have not found in historical fiction before. Ms. Quinn brings that emotional struggle to light in such a thought provoking personal way.

As Elinor feels at the end of the book – there can be more than one kind of happy ending. I’d definitely recommend this one and will be looking forward to seeing what Ms. Quinn has in store for us next.

I would like to thank the author, Random House Publishing – Ballentine Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

💭When I saw the time period this book takes place, I had to request it from netgalley! Learning how wealthy wives and mothers were treated in Europe during this time period blew my mind! I was captivated by this story until the very end!

✔️loveless husband
✔️mother not allowed to mother
✔️titanic
✔️building a new life under a new name in America
✔️going from riches to nothing and back up to the top
✔️making your own family with people you choose
✔️heartbreak and strength

This compelling story set around the sinking of the Titanic really captured my imagination. The hopelessness that Elinor felt as the wife of the peerage, where her every move was dictated by tradition and she had no say in the raising of her son came through so strongly. When the Titanic sank, and she survived, she saw the chance to forge a new identity for herself in New York City. Despite her background of wealth and privilege, she fought to support herself and raise her son in freedom. Her story was so inspiring and kept me engaged.

The setting was immersive. From the estate of an earl to the opulence of the Titanic, to the chaos of New York’s Lower East Side, I could picture it all.

The plot was fairly straightforward but interesting with excellent characters. I loved the friendships Elinor developed in NYC.

This was an excellent and exciting historical novel and very worth the read.

Thank you to @Netgalley, Ballantine Books, and @randomhouse for the chance to review this ARC.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this arc.

The first part of the book flew by and before I knew it I was half the way through. Elinor’s life as wife to the heir to an Earldom is cushioned with servants, couture clothes, and comforts. But she’s also stifled and not permitted to see her baby son for more than 20 minutes a day. We see Elinor losing who she is and facing a lifetime of that. If that isn’t bad enough, she discovers another secret that devastates her.

This is contrasted with the relative freedom she has during the first few days on the Titanic. The Titanic sinking though, yeah that was wrenching. Yet it gives Elinor a second chance. Elinor decides this is her opportunity to reinvent herself and see that her son has a better, and loved life, too. She debates, rethinks, hesitates, and finally goes for it. Elinor is clearly misguided, she knows she’s doing lots of wrong things but she has reasons and actual personally experienced history for why she goes ahead.

She doesn’t get off scot free though. Elinor has PTSD nightmares of the sinking, waking with the screams and cries for help of the dying Titanic passengers in her head. Yep, loads of guilt haunt Elinor. She’s thankful though that Teddy seems to have no memory of that night.

Frederick and his family had lured and deceived Elinor to believe romantic untruths then squashed her like a bug with their sneers and condescension. They subtly threatened her with accusations of madness and being incarcerated in an asylum and steamrolled her personality to get her to fit in. Frederick had emotionally hurt Elinor in an additional way that I guessed. Elinor has so many reasons to hate this family. I’m torn about a scene which shows Elinor that Frederick feels the full, crushing weight of the thirteen generations that he’s trying to uphold. Maybe it makes Frederick not quite the total asshole.

Wow does Elinor get a wakeup call about her privilege in NYC. She might be scorned by the aristos in England but she was raised with wealth and advantages that these immigrants in NYC can’t even conceive of. Good on Elinor that she realizes this, pays attention to fit in, and dives into learning how to survive and contribute her fair share. It makes her feel good to be using her brain and talents again and earning her own money.

Elinor and Teddy also find something else in the cramped apartment – a family who takes them in without question and shares what little they have without hesitation. Though she tries to avoid telling any more lies than she has already done, there are times when Molly’s aunt talks about the family back in England and confides things to Elinor, who feels even guiltier.

Elinor has a real fear that her in-laws could discover Teddy’s alive and use their money to find him and snatch him away. When the possibility finally arrived, I worried about what she’d be tempted to do. There’s one final challenge when all might be lost. I was holding my breath again but Elinor remembers the negotiating skills her father had taught her and goes for broke.

I think this book is a testament to grit and determination. It’s filled with strong women who decide to change their own lives, reaching for the promise of a place that doesn’t hold people back but lets them dream for themselves and their children. I like that Elinor has to face some consequences because yes, she’s not totally innocent even if she’s got excellent reasons to do what she does. But as another woman who faced down her fears tells her “you are a strong young woman; you don’t run from things that frighten you.” B

An intriguing story about a woman who opts out and finds herself. Elinor is shocked when she discovers that her father-the Cotton King- more or less sold her to her husband's aristocratic but financially strapped family. And she's even more shocked by how the family raises children, seeing them for only 20 minutes a day. SO a trip on the Titanic becomes a chance to take her son and become someone else when she assumes the identity of the woman she hired to be her maid. Elinor is lucky, really lucky, to be accepted by Ruth and Anna, to have a place to live, and work to do. But there's always a specter out there. No spoilers from me. If I have quibbles it's that this is pretty rosy for Elinor, whose fears (while legit) become repetitive. That said, this is a page turner and I was rooting for her. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Good storytelling makes for a good read of historical fiction.