A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly - ADVISABLE

A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly, 295 pages. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2022. $27.

Language: PG (7 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Captain Rostron is captain of a fine ship – even if Carpathia isn’t the Titanic everyone is raving about. He and his crew are at the end of a regular day when they receive news that Titanic is sinking. Doing everything they can to go to the Titanic’s aid, Captain Rostron worries that everything won’t be enough.

Connolly writes about the Titanic and the only ship that goes to assist them, and, yet, the inevitable tragedy felt sudden and urgent. Sorrow is as tangible as the tears that will run down your face, and your knowledge of the Titanic wars with your hope that these characters – portraying real people – will live.

The characters are from a variety of European and American backgrounds, the majority being implied white. The mature content rating is for mention of alcohol use; the violence rating is for suggestion of suicide and descriptions of dead bodies.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen