Review of The Girl that Came Home

Title: The Girl that Came Home

Author: Hazel Gaynor

Chapters: 38 plus epilogue

Pages: 384

Genre: Historical fiction

Rating: 4 stars

I normally don’t read books that take place on the Titanic because it’s easy to know how the story generality ends. But I decided to take a chance with The Girl That Came Home by Hazel Gaynor, because it was about third class Irish passengers on board the Titanic. Which actually was something that I hadn’t actually seen before.  

Maggie Murphy is a seventeen year old Irish girl who has to leave behind the love of her life Seamus Doyle behind when she travels with her aunt Kathleen to her aunt’s home in Chicago. It then details her journey on the Titanic.

I also love how the book flips between Maggie on the titanic and her great granddaughter Grace in the 80’s. (I’m not giving anything away. You find this out by reading the back.   Both Maggie and her great granddaughter Grace both learn things from Maggie’s time on the Titanic. There was also a scene that reminded me a bit of Jane Eyre.

I loved that Hazel based the people traveling with Maggie on real people. From a similar town in Ireland. Also that Maggie was loosely based on a real person as well.  The Girl that came home was a bitter sweet read but still a good read. I cannot wait to read Hazel’s new book. A Memory of Violets. There is some slight language issues, but its still a good book.