The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor

 
 

Title: The Girl Who Came Home
Author: Hazel Gaynor (Facebook)
Pages: 359
Source: received a copy from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review
Rating: really good

Summary from Goodreads:

 A voyage across the ocean becomes the odyssey of a lifetime for a young Irish woman. . . .

Ireland, 1912 . . .

Fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Séamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again.

Chicago, 1982 . . .

Adrift after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what comes next. When her great-grandmother Maggie shares the painful secret about Titanic that she's harbored for almost a lifetime, the revelation gives Grace new direction—and leads both her and Maggie to unexpected reunions with those they thought lost long ago.

Inspired by true events, The Girl Who Came Home poignantly blends fact and fiction to explore the Titanic tragedy's impact and its lasting repercussions on survivors and their descendants.


The story of the Titanic has always fascinated me. The tragedy on that ship is almost more than I can imagine. This novel was based on true events and it was interesting to see how the author made it work. Both Grace and Maggie were interesting, likeable characters but Maggie's story was more interesting to me. I loved her transition from Ireland to the ship. The fears and struggles that she had were so real. It wasn't a big portion of the book but it was so emotionally powerful.

I enjoyed the way the stories were told and felt it was well thought out and easy to follow. I have found that some books that switch from the past to the present and vice versa are too jumpy and don't feel quite as seamless a story. 

The ending and epilogue were satisfying. I was a bit worried that it would end not to my liking knowing the history of the ship but it was good.

I think that anyone with a love of historical events and especially the Titanic, of course, will enjoy this story. I am unsure specifically what was not actual events but I enjoyed the story.