Score: 4/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for gifting me a review copy of Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan, it comes out on March 9.

This right here is why I love historical fiction. Books like this one bring the past to life and make you want to do your own research outside of reading the novel. At least that’s what happened to me, and I found myself scouring the internet for more details, photos, and information about the events in this book. I couldn’t get enough!

The luxury steamship Pulaski sank in 1838, about 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina. It was dubbed the ‘Titanic of the South’. A boiler exploded and took the vessel down and at least 128 people (including some of Savannah’s elite) with it. There were only 59 survivors.

In the modern-day timeline, history professor Everly Winthrop is tasked with curating a museum exhibit based on artifacts recovered from the steamship. The more she digs into the story, the more fascinated she becomes with learning about the people onboard.

This book is split between the present day and 1838, telling the stories of connected passengers aboard the ship. These stories help carry you back in time and bring to life those events as if you were there.

Apart from the wreck itself, there were more than a few horrifying facts brought to light, like Black individuals on board were counted in their own separate category after other adults and children. And women weren’t listed on the passenger list other than being ‘the wife of so and so’.

This disaster was one I’d never heard about before, and the wreckage was actually only found in 2018.

In addition to the fascinating history, this book is also an amazing story about difficult choices, loss, grief, love, and survival. But surviving doesn’t always mean a happy ending—"How will we survive the surviving?".

I enjoyed the 1838 timeline more than the present day one, and thought the last quarter of the book could have been shortened a little, but overall the characters were rich, the historical detail was exquisitely written, and this is definitely a book you’re going to want to read for yourself. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this gets made into a movie or TV series!

Synopsis:

It was called "The Titanic of the South." The luxury steamship sank in 1838 with Savannah's elite on board; through time, their fates were forgotten--until the wreck was found, and now their story is finally being told in this breathtaking novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis.

When Savannah history professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she's shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly can't resist the opportunity to try to solve some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the devastating night of its sinking.

Everly's research leads her to the astounding history of a family of eleven who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family: a known survivor, Augusta Longstreet, and her niece, Lilly Forsyth, who was never found, along with her child. These aristocratic women were part of Savannah's society, but when the ship exploded, each was faced with difficult and heartbreaking decisions. This is a moving and powerful exploration of what women will do to endure in the face of tragedy, the role fate plays, and the myriad ways we survive the surviving.