Surviving Savannah Review

Surviving Savannah

Patti Callahan

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published March 9th 2021 by Berkley

My Review

One of history's greatest maritime tragedies. The book, Surviving Savannah is the mixture of factual details and fictional liberties mixed detailing the wreck of the Steamship Pulaski. The cause is the starboard boiler exploded and the ship sunk about 45 minutes after the explosion. Onboard were about 150 passengers,their servants and 37 crew members.

What took place you could vividly imagine with the author's detailed

descriptions of this tragedy.

This past Summer I visited a maritime museum having no idea I would be reading this amazing book Surviving Savannah. Now I wish I had read the book earlier so I could have seen if there were any items from this particular shipwreck there.

This book was fabulous,amazing and all the positive things you could think of.

A great deal of it covered the details of the aftermath of the tragedy.

Just imagine these people on a boat there's a horrific explosion it's 11 p.m. pitch dark and you're out in the ocean miles from shore. They were 38 miles from shore.

These people were dressed in dressing gowns,startled awake by this explosion ,the boat is sinking fast,some have families some don't but how can you hold onto your children and prevent yourself from going to your watery grave?

Emotional but yet you feel hope as you read this.

This is a time split novel that also has a connection to the present with a

man and woman researching this disaster.

I very strongly recommend this book. It will stay with me for a long time!

Pub Date 09 Mar 2021

I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.

All opinions expressed are my own.

GoodReads Summary

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.

About The Author