The Lost Passenger
In 1910, Elinor Hayward is swept off her feet by the attentions of Frederick Coombes, heir to a large English estate. But immediately after the wedding, reality hits. Frederick doesn’t love her. She’s been snatched up for her family wealth, even though her industrialist father is sneered at by her mother-in-law, Lady Storton, who makes Elinor’s life thoroughly miserable. She soon reconciles with herself that she can’t fight the system, even after the birth of a son and heir, so she settles for meek compliance, all the while watching for an avenue of escape. This eventually arrives by way of tickets for the Titanic’s maiden voyage. The sinking of the luxurious liner is the narrative bridge Quinn employs to cross from Elinor’s miserable English life to her new venture, under a new name, in New York.
Elinor’s experiences after her marriage are disturbing. She is repeatedly silenced and kept from her son, nastiness meant to ensure the family traditions are upheld as they have been for hundreds of years. But a fortuitous encounter aboard ship gives her an opportunity to escape and become a real mother to her son. Taking on a dead woman’s persona isn’t a decision Elinor, now Molly, takes lightly. Guilt haunts her, and her feelings are heartfelt as she surmounts many hurdles to avoid being discovered. New York’s Lower East Side’s cacophony is one of the joys of this novel. The clamour of the street markets, raucously competing languages, crowds bantering and bartering. It all creates a marvellous din that really grabs the reader’s senses. Elinor before, and Molly after, are both characters we’re willing to root for. Some necessary subterfuge aids plot tension as Molly finds her way in a life nothing like Elinor ever experienced. Quinn’s focused lens on an immigrant-centred early 20th-century New York explores the sincere value of true family and lasting friendships.
