Downton Abbey meets Titanic in this sweeping historical fiction novel about three women of different generations and social classes, whose lives intersect on a majestic ocean liner traveling from Paris to New York in the wake of World War I.

The opulent age of empires is ending, but the great queens of the sea—the magnificent luxury liners—continue to reign supreme. Despite the tragedy of the Titanic, the race to build ever larger and more extravagant floating palaces continues, and passengers still flock to make the transatlantic voyage in style.

In 1921, the SS Paris leaves Le Havre on her maiden voyage. Aboard, passengers dine in glittering grandeur on French cuisine, served by hundreds of unnoticed servants and chefs. Below the waterline, the modern oil-fired engines throb day and night. And for three women, this journey will profoundly change their lives.

Traveling first class, elderly Vera Sinclair is reluctantly moving back to Manhattan after thirty wonderful years abroad. In cozy second class, reveling in her brief freedom from family life, Constance Stone is returning after a failed mission to bring her errant sister home from France. And in the stifling servants’ quarters, young Le Havre native Julie Vernet is testing her wings in her first job as she sets out to forge her own future. For all three, in different ways, this voyage will be a life-changing journey of the heart—a historical women’s fiction tale of love, loss, and resilience set against the glittering backdrop of a 1920s ocean liner.

* A NOVEMBER 2012 INDIE NEXT PICK *