The Second Mrs. Astor: A Novel of the Titanic by Shana Abe

 

 The  Second Mrs. Astor: A Novel of the Titanic by Shana Abe. Kensington Books, 2021. Adult historical fiction.

Madeleine Force is eighteen when she marries wealthy John Jacob Astor.  They were real people whose lives are documented in newspaper accounts of the times. They were among the First Class passengers on the HMS Titanic.  And, their Gilded Age story is fascinating. 

The author writes this fictional account largely as a series of letters to their son. The writing is smooth and wraps the reader up in the love story of the Astors. Mr. Astor's previous divorce and quick remarriage still rank as major scandals. But, this is really Madeleine's story as she tells it. Their age difference, their chemistry, and their devotion to each other all blend into an interesting and charming tale. 

The research list is quite short. One hopes that all of the book is based on truth and is well researched. A more complete bibliography would have been helpful and given more heft to the narrative, but it is a book of fiction however.   Readers will have to do their own research to see photographs of the real second Mrs. Astor.