I am a great admirer of all things related to the Titanic, and I immediately recognized the story depicted in the lifeboat scenes. While I found the middle section somewhat repetitive at times, and I occasionally felt a little frustrated with the main character, the narrative is ultimately a testament to endurance and bravery. It might even inspire you to undertake something bold and unconventional.

How wonderful to go back to the writing of Francis Quinn and her fabulous historic novels. Set on the Titanic I thought I knew what to expect but how wrong was I . A novel of escape and new identity while dealing with the horrors and repercussions of the disaster. Our heroine is Elinor Coombs who is trapped in a disastrous marriage and takes a courageous and life changing decision in the wake of of shipwreck. The descriptions of life in aristocratic England and downtown New York are wonderful and evocative of the time and I felt fully immersed in Eleanor‘s world. Having read all of the authors previous novels, I can’t wait for her next offering and can only hope it won’t be too long. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

There’s not a lot of romance between the pages of this novel even though there is a whirlwind wedding. The Lost Passenger is a historical drama that delivers quite soon and had me rooting for Elinor from start to finish. I forgot how lovely it is to read a book without multiple voices, and there’s also no going back and forth in time, just the moment itself seen through Elinor’s eyes. It was really the best format to grip me the way that it did.

Back to Elinor’s loveless marriage then. As if crushing her romantic dreams (and mine) wasn’t enough, what really squeezed my heart were the hours, days and weeks after she gave birth. Those scenes were among the best and toughest ones of the book, setting aside Elinor’s experience on the life boat and knowing that so many people were left in the water. Of course I know what happened on the Titanic (especially thanks to THAT movie) but I certainly never felt like it had to move along faster because of it.

Elinor makes a decision to escape her old aristocratic life and make a new and anonymous one in New York with her young son and she finds herself surrounded by people she doesn’t know but who embrace her fully. The roles are now reversed, she no longer has a maid to do all the work instead she learns new skills and tries to fit into the lower social class. I loved seeing her take back her autonomy with such strength and determination. The people who took her in, Anna, Ruth and Per were wonderful and although they don’t have much, it is clear that money can’t buy happiness and she’s been happier without all the luxury than the years before. Elinor’s love for her son is primordial throughout and the storyline in New York was quite engaging.

My only peeve is that I wish I hadn’t read the synopsis on a major American online retailer site before starting this book because I read about a twist at the end of the book (I’ll have you know the UK version is different and doesn’t include this). Also, if some romance would have been included I would have been even happier, but overall this is a brilliant historical drama that despite of all the ups and downs – and lets not forget the lies – still had the ability to give me a warm and good feeling.

PS. I love that the acknowledgements include the author’s cats! Double points!

I'm very late saving my review, having read this before publication I'm behind on adding reviews but safe to say I adored this, as with all Frances' previous books!

This story shines a light on the class system in early 20th century England and the hopes of a new life that so many people had when setting off to America on the Titanic, but the reality was many wouldn't reach their destination, and those that did still faced challenges in their new home. This book is stunning and I'm still thinking about it now

Liked it . Due to health issues cannot not but will write a proper review at a later time
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Having never read anything by this author, I was slightly apprehensive to see what I was going to get. With it the well known and written about topic of the sinking of the Titanic, this could well have been a rehash of many other stories that have been told over the years.

However, The Lost Passenger is certainly very different.

Elinor Haywood, finds herself on the Titanic with her father, her husband and their little boy, along with their maid Molly. All should have been okay, but Elinor's marriage was not a love match and she has simply been pushed aside from being a mother to her young son. None of this is what she thought life would be like, but she signed up for it for the sake of her father and Elinor knows her place.

Until that fateful night and she sees the opportunity to reinvent her life with her little boy and become Molly and start her life again. She starts from the bottom and finds a life in New York and stops looking over her shoulder in being discovered. Surely no one would be looking for her?

This book is very much in two half's - the build up to that eventful night, and the aftermath for Elinor in New York as she builds a new life, a new future and much better one for her and her son where her voice counts.

Full of strong determined women and a reflection on what women had to endure to survive. This book makes you realise how far things have come and that the fight is still going on.

One of the more interesting aspects of plots that have come out of the sinking disaster that I have read about.

🎧 Audiobook Review🎧

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I want to thank Netgalley for approving me for an ARC of this book and a special thank you to my buddy reader @wendyreadsbooks. This is my favourite read of ours, so far this year.

The Lost Passenger tells us Elinor's story, before and after she sets sail on the Titanic. Whilst Elinor's marital situation and expectations was nothing new at that time, Frances Quinn has a way of writing that draws you into the story and makes you feel captured. I went through a series of emotions for Elinor but ultimately I had hoped that she would find a happier and better life.

The sinking of the Titanic is a prominent part of history and I'm always left unable to believe that something that disastrous happened. The fear, disbelief and devastation are written beautifully into the story, Frances Quinn is a real wordsmith.

Suffice to say that I loved this book and it's become my favourite of the authors so far.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Frances is an incredible author, I have thoroughly enjoyed each of her books. This is an epic in every sense of the word and found myself both raging at how Elinor is treated and willing her to break free. Packed with a character driven story, that won't let you go.

What a brilliant, breathtaking read from Frances Quinn.
I’m a huge fan of her writing and loved The Smallest Man and The Bonesetter Woman, but this, The Lost Passenger is absolutely wonderful, and is a contender for my favourite of the year.
Elinor’s story had me totally invested from the beginning: I was raging on her behalf, crying and on the edge of my seat in anticipation as we followed ever step of her journey. Her bravery, tenacity and courage so admirable.
Frances Quinn writes such compelling stories and her characters always have such conviction.
The research for this one must have been extensive and I found the personal touches of the events covered so moving.
Just brilliant.

Elinor a new mum in a rich household never gets any time with her son Teddy, due to people wanting her to focus more on her status and health professionals not listening to the voice of a woman. When she goes on a trip on the titanic and disaster strikes, she takes on the identity of someone else so she can stay with her son and have a new beginning in a different country.

This book had various different thoughtful themes of class and gender divide which made for great reads and interest. At times there were slower paced parts, however overall I enjoyed the difference in themes and complex layers behind this read!

This is the first novel I’ve read by the author and I’ve no doubt it will be among my favourite reads of 2025. I love historical novels set in the Edwardian era and The Lost Passenger drew me in from the first chapter. Elinor Coombes is trapped in an unhappy aristocratic marriage when her mill owner father takes Elinor, her husband and young son Teddy on the Titanic’s maiden voyage. When the ship sinks Elinor grabs the opportunity to start a new life in New York with Teddy.
I absolutely loved the character of Elinor, this was an emotional read and I was so angered by Elinor’s treatment by her husband and his family which gives the reader a real insight into the place of women in society in the early twentieth century. I was completely immersed in the ups and downs of Elinor’s journey and her new life in New York and was rooting for her and Teddy throughout. The author is superb at really taking the reader to a time and place, whether it’s upper class England, on board the Titanic or the Lower East side of New York and I found the descriptions of New York and it’s diverse population fascinating. The author writes beautifully and effortlessly and this is story telling at its best. I feel completely bereft now it’s over and long to hear more about Elinor and Teddy.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I loved The Bonesetter Woman so I was excited to read Fran's latest book. I absolutely loved this story and couldn't put it down.

Elinor was such a brilliant character, and I could hardly believe the circumstances she found herself in following what she believed to be a marriage of love to Frederick. It was so frustrating to see how powerless she was against the aristocratic family she married into.

I loved Elinor's resilience and determination to be with her son. The backdrop of the Titanic was fascinating and heartbreaking to read. The family in New York were brilliant, and I loved all of the different characters that Elinor met in her new life. The way Elinor built a new life for herself in New York through the fashion industry and the street carts was fascinating!
The novel is clearly meticulously researched, and this comes through in all the details of the story.

Overall, this is a heartwarming story of a mother's love as well as of family and friendship. If you like historical fiction, I highly recommend this book.

No-one does historical fiction and strong female leads quite like the wonderful Fran Quinn - she packs every page full of sounds, smells, tastes and textures to bring her world to life.

In ‘The Lost Passenger' our heroine is Elinor Coombs, married to aristocratic husband Frederick. They are sailing on the Titanic’s maiden voyage along with their young son Teddy and Elinor’s beloved father, a selfmade man who has amassed a fortune in cotton mills.
Elinor is very unhappy in her marriage; she feels trapped and alone, knowing that she was unwittingly chosen for the money she could bring to the marriage rather than for love. She knows that she has no say in any aspect of her life, not even when it concerns her own child. Frederick's family make all the decisions, seeing the family's future riding on Teddy's shoulders as the future Lord Stourton. If Frederick dies, her son will be raised by Frederick’s own parents, sent to boarding school to learn how to be a Lord. Elinor can’t bear the thought of Teddy being sent away, but her voice carries no weight.

She jumps at the chance to spend some time with her father, seeing it as an opportunity to be herself and be heard, even if just for a few days. The thought of freedom is wonderful. Her father has always promised to take her, Frederick and Teddy on the Titanic’s maiden voyage, so they join the other excited passengers on board, Its a longed awaited trip of a lifetime for so many of its passengers, who are delighting in the luxury first class settings, the sumptuous decorations, the unforgettable meals, and the ultimate luxury, an onboard swimming pool. Its almost painful reading, knowing what is in store for so many of the passengers in just a few short hours.

We all know what happened to the Titanic; and when Elinor spots the chance to change the future for her and Teddy she leaps at it, taking on another identity as Molly, a young woman who was sailing to New York for her own fresh start.

I was absolutely rooting for Elinor to get the new start she so deserved; her tenacity and resilience were a joy to read about; I don’t know if I would have been so brave. Her determination for her and Teddy to have a new future ahead of them was inspiring and wonderful. The final post-script was perfect.

Naturally I wanted to read this book by Frances Quinn because of the reference to the Titanic. However there is so much more to this book. I love the way that Quinn sets the scene in Edwardian England first before the voyage. Plus once 'the lost passenger' survives the sinking, her life in New York is very interesting as well.

I don’t often choose historical fiction novels but the beautiful cover of The Smallest Man, Frances Quinn’s first novel, caught my eye and it ended up being one of my favourite books in 2022. I was therefore thrilled to secure an eARC of The Lost Passenger.

Again, another stunningly beautiful, eye catching cover for The Lost Passenger. And again, I can see another Frances Quinn book topping my favourite books’ list of 2025. Her writing is just so good; I was immediately caught up in Elinor’s story. The depth of all her characters are so impressive and the descriptions of places and circumstances are so concise and well written, I can imagine myself there. It is obvious how much research went into this book.

It sounds simplistic for a review (and for that I apologise) but I just thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the eARC of this fabulous book.

Although I have Frances Quinn’s other books on my Kindle, somehow I’ve never had time to read them. I’m so glad I made time for this one, and will be moving the others straight to the top of my TBR pile.
I loved this story, which provides such a satisfying character arc. I felt the full gamut of emotions on Elinor’s behalf: sadness that she had to use her intelligence to manipulate situations and pretend to be someone she wasn’t; pity for her tragic losses and unhappy marriage; admiration for her resilience and achievements; tension as on several occasions she faced losing everything she held most dear; and delight at the satisfying resolution.
Elinor’s life of pretence and deceit stems from a series of events beyond her control which force her to make unconscionable decisions, every one of them completely understandable thanks to the author’s sensitivity and excellent plotting. At her core Elinor is deeply honest and authentic, and seeing her being forced to live in an inauthentic way made me hurt on her behalf. I pitied seeing her innocence stripped away, but knew from the start that a girl who was prepared to “steal someone else’s life” would somehow find a way through. I was gripped from the banging first sentence and delighted in following her journey.
Those weren’t the only aspects I loved. The secondary characters were beautifully drawn and well-rounded. The research that must have gone into the different worlds depicted in this story was remarkable, but the author used her obviously detailed knowledge with a light touch. I also enjoyed the parallels with the aristocratic love triangle between Charles, Diana and Camilla. It was so easy to sympathise with all of the characters.
Congratulations to the author for a terrific story, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I have read by Quinn, and I'm not sure I chose the best place to start.

Whilst I loved the themes of the plot and the writing style was very up my street, I felt the story lost momentum towards the last third and the end was tied up all too conveniently.

It was an enjoyable read, and I would definitely pick up Quinn's other titles which seem to have better reviews.

Frances Quinn’s That Bonesetter Woman was one of my books of the year in 2022 and I didn’t really expect her new one, The Lost Passenger, to live up to it. Well, I’m pleased to say that I thought it was even better!

The novel begins in England in 1910. Nineteen-year-old Elinor Hayward is the daughter of a wealthy Manchester mill owner known as ‘the cotton king’, but when she marries Frederick Coombes, the son and heir of Lord and Lady Storton, she finds herself being looked down upon by her aristocratic in-laws. It seems that nothing she says or does is good enough for them and although Frederick himself is not unkind, it quickly becomes obvious that he doesn’t love her and it’s not going to be the happy marriage she had dreamed about. Worse still, when their first child, Teddy, is born, he is immediately taken away to be raised by a nanny and it is made clear to Elinor that she’s to have very little involvement in his upbringing.

After two unhappy years, Elinor is thrilled when her father buys tickets for the Titanic and invites her to join him on the ship’s maiden voyage, along with Frederick and Teddy. It’s a chance to see more of the world, but also to finally spend some precious time with her little boy. Of course, the voyage ends in tragedy but Elinor and Teddy are lucky enough to be rescued after the ship goes down. When asked for her name so a list of survivors can be compiled, it occurs to Elinor that this is the only opportunity she’s ever going to have to escape from her old life. Before she has time to really think about the consequences, she finds herself giving another woman’s name and taking on a fake identity. But will she be able to avoid being caught – and will the new life she builds for herself in New York be worth the deception?

Frances Quinn has a real gift for creating characters the reader can get behind and root for. I liked Elinor from the beginning and she had my full sympathy in having to deal with the vicious snobbery of Lady Storton and the disappointment of a loveless marriage. Her life with Frederick and his family is so stifling and unhappy that even though the decision she makes after the sinking of the Titanic is questionable, it’s also very understandable. Although this first section of the novel is quite slow, I think it was necessary for Quinn to spend plenty of time showing us how trapped Elinor felt and how desperate she had become.

Many books have been written about the Titanic, but this one is different. The Titanic is not the main focus of the story but is a starting point to explore how Elinor makes the most of the second chance she has been given. However, I still felt that Quinn handles the disaster sensitively and with respect for the victims. She writes about the failings of the evacuation process, the conditions experienced by those who make it into a lifeboat and the realisation that there’s no hope for the hundreds left on board, but she doesn’t go into too much detail on any of these things. Instead of concentrating on the disaster itself, she focuses more on the survivors and how they try to cope with the trauma they’ve suffered and move forward with their lives.

The second half of the book is devoted to Elinor’s arrival in New York and how she goes about trying to build a happier future for herself and Teddy. I’m deliberately not saying much more because I want you to enjoy discovering the rest of Elinor’s story for yourself (everything else I’ve talked about so far is already touched on in the publisher’s blurb for the book). It’s both fascinating and inspirational to see how Elinor is able to create a whole new life out of the ruins of her old one, but at the same time there’s always the risk that someone who knew her before could see her and give her away her secret.

I loved this book and as I haven’t read her first one, The Smallest Man, yet, I still have something to look forward to!

A very enjoyable read. Elinor, an only child, had a wonderful upbringing with loving parents. Her father is a self made millionaire and after her mother died Elinor helped him with the business. She also loved to read and these stories gave her rose tinted glasses when aristocrat Frederick shows an interest in her. Believing herself in love they marry but her glasses are soon shattered. After the birth of their first child Edward ‘Teddy’ she becomes even more unhappy, only being allowed to spend 20 minutes with him each day. This was so easy to read I didn’t want to put it down I was so engrossed.

Briefly, her father contacts her to say he has bought tickets for the maiden voyage of the Titanic, which he promised before her marriage. She persuades Frederick to accept the offer and so they board with Teddy and a maid to help with Teddy. The terrible tragedy that follows gives Elinor an opportunity to change her life, and as she stands on board the Carpathia, she makes a shocking decision.

Elinor is a wonderful character. A strong and clever woman, the sort of person you know will be successful when she sets her mind to it. But she’s a flawed woman who lies to people she cares about, but because she is scared and desperate. The plot is good and it’s like two different stories - before and after Titanic. I loved the family Elinor and Teddy lived with in New York, they couldn’t be more different than her family in England. A entertaining and enjoyable read. 4.5⭐️

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn
Having read The Smallest Man and That Bonesetter Woman I was really looking forward to this book. I found the description of Elinor’s life fascinating but was surprised at how easily she allowed herself to be fooled by her husband’s aristocratic family. We know that she is shrewd from the work she has done in her father’s cotton business but she allows herself to be manipulated by Frederick and his family.
There is nothing in Frederick’s attitude towards her which suggests he has found the love of his life and their romance is conducted in a very business-like manner. Her submission to what his family wants does not seem to fit with her upbringing. I also thought that her father might have ensured that she could inherit as he had involved her so fully in the business.
All this being said I really enjoyed the book and it is obvious from the start that Elinor will end up travelling on the ill-fated Titanic. The description of the sinking of the ship is handled well and her subsequent life in New York is covered very well. As soon as she arrived in America I became more involved in her story and enjoyed the way in which the story was developed. I will recommend the book to others even though I did not feel it was as good as the two previous novels it shows her ability to write historical novels firmly set in different periods of time.
Many thanks to Frances Quinn, Simon and Schuster and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.