Queen of the Waves by Janice Thompson is historical romance from Summerside Press. Set in 1912, starting a month before the voyage of the Titanic, Queen of the Waves focuses on the lives of two women, Tessa Bowen, daughter of a pig farmer, and Jacquie Abingdon, daughter of an English businessman.
The gist of the story is that Jacquie's father was promised her to be married to a boring American business man for financial reasons, but Jacquie is in love with the gardner, Peter, who happens to be Tessa's brother. Jacquie's mom doesn't want to her to meet the same fate of a loveless marriage that she has endured so she concocts a plan to send Jacquie to her grandmother in New York, via the Titanic in one month's time. Not wanting to leave Peter she asks him to run away with her. Instead, he suggests they send his sister in Jacquie's place.
Jacquie's a wee bit foolish and oblivious, never wondering how sending another girl in her place helps her plans to run away with Peter. And Peter really isn't about running away so much as he is about getting his sister out of her horrible situation on the pig farm.
But none of that matters once Tessa is on board the Titanic and meets Nathan Patterson, an American on his own way home to begin his new life with his father's insurance firm.
Janice Thompson does a great job with the descriptions of the Titanic and the first class people aboard. She sets a great stage of mixed nationalities and purposes and appearances for four fabulous days of sailing. If a person didn't know the ending, she would enjoy the ride.
