Review: Distant Waves

Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn

publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

release date: April 2009

hardcover, 336 pages

intended audience: Young Adult

rating:


Description from front flap:
(this was the only accurate description I could find! See explanation below!)
Daughters of a famed clairvoyant, the five Taylor sisters, begin the twentieth century searching for a home. Their mother takes them to the small town of Spirit Vale, where she makes a living by talking to the dead. The future, however, is something even she cannot clearly see.
The Taylor sisters are not destined to stay in Spirit Vale for long. Mimi's fate is mingled with that of rich society, and threatened by a secret surrounding her birth. Jane becomes involved in a feat of scientific intrigue that has the potential to alter the course of history---and the course of her greatest love. The twins, Emma and Amelie, appear ready to follow in their mother's footsteps. And the youngest, Blythe, will stop at nothing to make her dreams of wealth and fame come true.

All of the sisters' destinies converge on board the Titanic. A transatlantic voyage that promises great wonders soon turns into a fight for survival. (Note: some sentences were left out of the original description to avoid slight spoilers!)

Review: I decided to go with the inside flap for the description because every other description I found was either not good enough or just plain inaccurate! Even the book cover itself is a little misleading---which in no way dampered my absolute love for this book (because I did absolutely LOVE this book!)---but I have seen others complain that they picked it up expecting to hear about a tale mostly about the Titanic and were sorely disappointed to find that it was only a small part of the story that takes place on the ship. I have to agree it was a tad misleading to call it "a novel of the Titanic", but like I said, misleading or not, this was a fantastic book!

There was so much I enjoyed about this. Honestly, I read this book a while ago and while I was rereading a few of the chapters to refresh my memory for this review, I was so tempted to start from the beginning and read it all again! I love the sisters' relationships with each other, it reminded me of the Little Women. I love how the two older sisters struggled with and at times doubted their mother's gifts. One of this books little charms was the girls' run-ins with so many familiar historical faces of the time. The characters were all really well written, each of the sisters seemed to have their own special story. I loved the love stories. The plot was amazing, with twists and turns and little surprises around every corner---and an amazing, heart-wrenching ending!

Go! Read it if you haven't already!