Non-fiction audiobook review: Maiden Voyages

Another selection from my "random historical stuff nabbed from the library" collection.

 

Title: Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women who Travelled and Worked Aboard Them
Author: Sian Evans
Publication Info: Macmillan Audio, 2021, 11 hours. Original publication by Two Roads/Hachett UK, 2020, 355 pages hardback. 
Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads):
Migrants and millionairesses, refugees and aristocrats all looking for a way to improve their lives. After WW1 a world of opportunity was opening up for women ... Before convenient air travel, transatlantic travel was the province of the great ocean liners and never more so than in the glory days of the interwar years. It was an extraordinary undertaking made by many women. Some travelled for leisure, some for work; others to find a new life, marriage, to reinvent themselves or find new opportunities. Their stories have remained largely untold - until now.

Maiden Voyages is a fascinating portrait of these women, and their lives on board magnificent ocean liners as they sailed between the old and the new worlds. The ocean liner was a microcosm of contemporary society, divided by class: from the luxury of the upper deck, playground for the rich and famous, to the cramped conditions of steerage or third class travel. These iconic liners were filled with women of all ages, classes and backgrounds: celebrities and refugees, migrants and millionairesses, aristocrats and crew members.

Full of incredible gossip, stories and intrigue, Maiden Voyages has a diverse cast of inspiring women - from A-listers like Josephine Baker, a dancer from St Louis who found fame in Paris, Marlene Dietrich and Wallis Simpson, Violet 'the unsinkable' Jessop, a crew member who survived the sinking of the Titanic, and entrepreneur Sibyl Colefax, a pioneering interior designer.

Whichever direction they were travelling, whatever hopes they entertained, they were all under the spell of life at sea, a spell which would only break when they went ashore. Maiden Voyages is a compelling and highly entertaining account of life on board: part dream factory, part place of work, independence and escape - always moving.

 

My Review:
This was a kind of fun romp through the Golden Age of ocean travel, though in my opinion it lacks substance. Maybe because it largely provides little capsule views of so many women, none felt addressed in depth (with the notable exception of one or two stewardesses--the term in use at the time--whose lives aboard many ships were explored more deeply--I'm glad it was the workers who got a closer look, anyway). It was fun to get glimpses of the glamorous women who crossed on the great liners, especially when those glimpses came via the women who served them.

Included here are the stories of a number of ships that when down, three of them through the eyes of Violet Jessop, who survived multiple wrecks (the Titanic was sunk by hubris; the other two by enemy action). Despite these dangers, many women chose to work on the ships not only because the money was fairly good (though of course still far less than was given men doing the same job), but the work provided a rare opportunity for a working-class woman to see something of the world.

The age of the liners was kicked off more or less by the arrival of steam vessels, and died when trans-Atlantic air travel became at least as affordable as the cruise. During that time, unlike with today's cruise ships, the same ships carried rich people who were traveling for pleasure and expecting all the amenities of a high-end resort, and poor people who were just trying to get to a new country. The former usually went round trip, the latter were hoping for a one-way voyage (there were those turned back at the US Borders--our relationship to our role as a haven for those seeking a better life has always been troubled). The differences in their accommodations makes the business vs economy contrast in airplanes look tiny.

While I felt like nothing in the was developed in sufficient detail, I greatly enjoyed the vignettes of life in another time. 

My Recommendation: 
Worth a look if you enjoy reading about the period. I suspect actual paper books might have pictures that would make the experience all the better, though I haven't confirmed this. Ultimately, it's a bit of nautical history and a lot of anecdotes, but it was kind of fun.

 



FTC Disclosure: I checked Maiden Voyages out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  


  

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

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