ship Archives - The Quick and the Read

(Audio)Book Review: ‘A Haunting in the Arctic’ by C. J. Cooke

I was in two minds about reading this book – on the one hand, I’m obsessed with anything set in the Arctic. What a fascinating, inhospitable, fabulous place with plenty of scope for peril, adventure, tragedy, isolation, creepiness…it has it all! On the other hand, I’m often less convinced by ghost stories as I often find them just too silly. Regardless, the Arctic won me over and so I picked up this book.

The story is essentially in three parts, with the focus skipping between the three timelines quite regularly. One of the strands is set in 1901 and features Nicky Duthie, daughter of a shipping company owner, being kidnapped and taken on board the whaling ship, the Ormen. Then there’s a 1973 strand (not featuring heavily) where the Ormen (now in use as a scientific research ship) is found drifting with a missing crew and just one mutilated body on board. Finally, there’s a modern strand in which Dominique, an urban explorer, travels to the ship just before the wreck is due to be sunk forever off the coast of Iceland. Here, in the almost perpetual darkness and freezing cold, she is determined to uncover the secrets of the ship.

I did worry initially that I’d fail to engage with a narrative that moved so frequently between time periods. However, I found that Dominique and Nicky’s stories were so different that it was easy to follow. I thought I’d probably like the historical story the best (as I love historical fiction), but I did find Nicky’s story really very grim. I’m not one for trigger warnings, but there’s a lot of casual rape and abuse which I found quite hard to process. Instead, I found myself much more interested in Dominique’s story, although baffled as to why anyone – no matter how intrepid – might want to explore/live in/broadcast on social media such a dangerous location!

The Arctic was – as I expected – magnificent. I loved the description of the people surviving in the inhospitable terrain, the darkness, the bitter cold, the maritime details of life in the North Sea (less keen on the actual whaling!) I thought the setting was great and gave the sense of claustrophobia even within the massive open spaces of Iceland.

And as for the ghost story – I did find it engaging and relatively credible. There were definite twists that I didn’t see coming and Cooke skilfully manipulates the reader’s sense of dread in seeing the mysterious female figure in the barren Arctic landscape. I did appreciate that the ghostly elements weren’t there for all-out horror, but something more subtle to do with shadows of the past. Indeed, the plotting was clever and the revelations kept me reading.

I should also mention that I listened to the audiobook which is narrated excellently by Lucy Goldie. I loved the fact that she has quite a strong Scottish accent which was perfect for the Scottish origins of the story and the associated mythology around selkies that feature in the novel.

This is an intriguing novel and one that kept me interested throughout. Some of it I found uncomfortable, but I loved the sense of setting and the fact that it kept me guessing to the end.

I received a free copy of the ebook from NetGalley for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Book Review: ‘Miss Aldridge Regrets’ by Louise Hare

Well, this was an absolute delight! Thanks to NetGalley for my chance to read this book ahead of its publication in April 2022.

I’m so glad that I saw this on ‘Between the Covers’ on BBC2 as I wouldn’t have otherwise picked it up – the cover didn’t immediately call out to me that it was a period murder mystery, but it is. And a good one.

Book Review: ‘A Fatal Crossing’ by Tom Hindle

This one couldn’t be more up my street if it tried – a 1920s setting, a murder mystery, a transatlantic crossing aboard a ship… it’s the ultimate in closed circle mysteries!

Thanks to Sarah Harwood for putting this book into my hands – I am grateful. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

The story opens with the death of an elderly gentleman on board ‘Endeavour’, a ship crossing to New York in 1926. A ship’s officer, Timothy Birch, tells the story of how he investigates, alongside a Scotland Yard officer (James Temple) also on the voyage. It’s a story that crosses the boundaries of First, Second and Third Class passenger areas, has a cast of many suspects, and is much more involved than it first seems…

I absolutely loved the setting of this. I’m always drawn to closed circle mysteries where there is a limited number of suspects and this meets the criteria perfectly. As the story progresses, we move (with Birch and Temple) between the public and private areas of the grand ship. We see the glitz and glamour of the First Class dining room, but also the cramped Third Class cabins. We see the luxurious suites occupied by the wealthy, but also the ‘behind-the-scenes’ staff areas. And it is all well-described and immersive – I found it easy to place myself on the decks of ‘Endeavour’!

We also meet a whole range of people – who between them have a whole host of secrets! Not many of them were very nice people, but that’s fine as I was convinced that each of them in turn was the killer. I honestly suspected everyone – except there’s no way I’d have predicted the ending of the novel.

The two detectives are interesting characters in their own rights. Birch is struggling with the tragic events of his own life which slowly and painfully come to the surface in the story. Temple is abrasive, rude and really quite arrogant – until events conspire to change his approach. Together, they are an unusual and stormy partnership – something that is intriguing to follow.

The plotting is clever and detailed – there’s even lots of recaps and explanations for those of us who need reminders to keep up! The disadvantage to this is that is does slow down the narrative a little at times (and it is quite a long book).

That said, I’d whole-heartedly recommend this lively and entertaining mystery. The twists are suitably twisty and the denouement genuinely surprising. The setting is vivid and the characters are well-drawn, even if you do love to hate them at times!

If you’d like a copy of this great mystery (out this week), please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Book Review: ‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams

This was a book that I was very excited about in 2021 but that – for reasons too dull to explain – got pushed down my reading pile.

I’m so glad I have remedied this now!

‘Maiden Voyages’ by Sian Evans

I loved this book so much. I wasn’t planning on writing a review for it right away, but I couldn’t wait to shout about it!

This book is about ‘Women and the Golden Age of Transatlantic Travel’ (as the subtitle says) – this covers a fairly short span of actual time in which a huge amount happened. It opens with Violet Jessop (more about her later) joining her first ship as a stewardess in 1908 and ends with transatlantic ocean crossings being overtaken by air travel in the late 1950s.

Only fifty years, but a period encompassing the end of the Edwardian era, World War I, the interwar years, World War II and its aftermath. And – wow – how the world changed in that time!

I’ll admit, I was drawn to this book as I was hoping for stories of glitz and glamour – having seen the excellent ‘Ocean Liners’ exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum a few years ago, I wanted to read more about the people who travelled in such style and opulence. It absolutely covers that. However, this book is also so much more.

What I loved is that it is the story of women of all ages, classes and backgrounds who chose – for various reasons – to travel by sea. Some, like Violet Jessop, worked aboard the ocean liners in order to support families back home. Others travelled on the ships to new lives in America, escaping the Old World and (in some cases) persecution before World War II or joining their GI husbands after the war. Luckier women, the wealthy and famous, relied on the ‘Atlantic Ferry’ for leisure or work purposes. A common theme though was the importance of the transatlantic crossing in the women’s lives.

It would be hard to pick favourite bits from the huge range of material that Evans has squeezed into this book – I found myself being carried along with the narrative as Evans moved seamlessly between people’s lives, great ships, historical context and some great stories.

I did love the story of the ‘Unsinkable’ Violet Jessop who managed to survive the sinking of Titanic and her sister ship, Britannic. She was also on board a third ship that was in a massive collision. Her fortitude and courage in the way she kept returning to sea was amazing, especially when she was made redundant by she shipping company at the start of World War I but retrained as a nurse to join a hospital ship in the Aegean Sea. An amazing woman – but one that I would have worried about sharing a ship with given the fates of her previous ones!

Including Violet, this book is packed with amazing women who survived all kinds of hardships and who led fascinating lives. Although the conditions were often tough on the transatlantic route – for reasons of inhospitable weather or the treacherous conditions of war – these women continued to travel, work and live on board the ships.

In short, I came to this book for the glamour of the ocean liner, but stayed for the immersive accounts of real women whose lives were connected by the need to cross the Atlantic. Indeed, the stories of bravery, determination and grit are staying with me now the book is finished.

I’d wholeheartedly recommend the hardback version of this book (before the paperback is due for publication in June) – it has two sections of photographs that allow you to put faces to some of the women in the book, plus see some shipboard scenes. This is a glorious book and worth every penny I paid!

If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton

I knew that this book would be so entirely my thing that I pre-ordered myself a gorgeous hardback copy because I couldn’t wait to see whether the NetGalley elves would be kind enough to grant me an ARC!

I loved Turton’s previous book, ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’, and was awaiting this one eagerly.

And I was right. It is so entirely my thing!

The story is set in 1634 on board a ship sailing from Batavia (in the Dutch East Indies) to Amsterdam. On board the Saardam, one of a fleet of seven ships sailing together, are an odd group of shipmates, including the governor general and his family, his mistress, a famed detective and his bodyguard, There’s also a whole host of unpredictable and bloodthirsty crew members, some musketeers and a mysterious cargo consigned to be watched over at all hours.

A horrific incident at the docks before boarding has rattled them all and introduced the idea of Old Tom, a demon under whose malign influence the Saardam is predicted to fall. When things on board the ship start to go wrong – often in disturbing and horrific ways – the ship seems doomed and all lives in danger.

With the celebrated detective locked in a holding cell for a crime he may have committed, it falls to two unlikely passengers on the ship to unravel the dark events that threaten the voyage.

I loved this book from the beginning when we are first introduced to Arent Hayes (bodyguard) and his master, Sammy Phipps – the celebrated detective who has more than a shadow of Sherlock Holmes about him. Powers of deduction? Tick. Widespread renown due to his sidekick’s reporting of his exploits? Tick. Slightly hedonistic tendencies when bored? Tick. It is fair to say, I was bought into this from the start!

When Sammy is confined to the cell, Arent becomes the main focus for the story and he is an interesting character in himself. Out of the shadow of his famous master, we see a man struggling to have the courage of his own convictions. He is someone who is more known for brawn than brain, although this seems unfair as the novel progresses and Arent is forced to use his intelligence as well as his strength. He is a realistic character with a shady past and I found myself really wanting him to prove himself.

Aside from Arent, what I loved about this book were the strong female characters. Sara Wessel, wife of the governor general of Batavia, is the main one who comes to the fore and she is a formidable woman, albeit one with contradictions. On the one hand, she is a clever, spirited woman with a talent for healing, but she is also subject to a domineering and violent husband and living in what essentially is a gilded cage. She makes a brilliant heroine because she is both so good and yet so plagued with her own problems too.

The setting of this book was also part of its considerable appeal for me. Although I can’t claim to know much about the East India Company and the technical details of the Indiaman ships, it felt authentic – the historical research was lightly worn and never felt laboured at all. Indeed, Turton claims (in a note at the end of the book) that ‘this is historical fiction where the history is the fiction’, but it all felt right to me and I was happy to be carried along in the wake of the compelling plot while admiring the history along the way! In fact, it has made me want to read more about the East India Company and this time period, so I’ve since bought ‘The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company’ by William Dalrymple which I hope will enlighten me further.

I think it needs to be said that ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ is a very dark book – the clue is in the title! It probably isn’t for the faint at heart as there are murders, fights, gruesome injuries, tales of abuse and lashings administered on the ship. When a story opens with a dying leper, you know there’s more horrific things to come! Still, none of the violence ever felt gratuitous and it added to the authenticity of the danger of the high seas.

It’s really hard to say more about the plot without giving spoilers, which I absolutely don’t want to do. Let’s just say that the twists and turns are there, everything is cleverly plotted and the final resolution is satisfying. Given that I didn’t know if I was reading a historical crime novel or a supernatural mystery, it’s safe to say I had no clue where everything would end up. However, there is lots to keep any reader occupied and I raced through the pages looking for clues.

I’d recommend this highly to anyone who enjoys locked room mysteries, historical fiction, strong female leads, supernatural creepiness, claustrophobic thrillers, a nautical slant to proceedings… there really is something for everyone and an awful lot of ground covered.

As a seasoned reader of mysteries, I thought there was little left that could genuinely surprise me, but Stuart Turton has proved me wrong. Bravo!

As well as my lovely hardback copy of this book from ‘Forbidden Planet’ (there’s even a map of the ship – I was sold on that alone, to be honest!), I received a free e-copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d like your own copy of this excellent, dark mystery, please use my affiliate link below – I earn a small commission on any purchases at no additional cost to you.

And in case you’re interested in the East India Company further (like I was), here’s a link to ‘The Anarchy’ as mentioned in my review. This one was shortlisted for the non-fiction award by the rather marvellous Historical Writers’ Association and they know their history!