July 1, 2021
Olivier Award-winning actress Imrie, author of several novels that have been British best sellers, returns with the story of young mother Marcela, frantic to find the children kidnapped by her nasty, soon-to-be ex-husband, Michael. Alas, Michael has taken them to London, then boarded the Titanic, which is heading toward its meeting with an iceberg. With a 40,000-copy first printing.
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October 4, 2021
Imrie (the Nice Series) returns with an engaging if drawn-out story based on two boys who were rescued from the Titanic. In 1911, Marcella Navratil, age 21, secretly visits a solicitor in Nice, France, to seek a divorce from her husband, Michael. Ever since the birth of their second child, her overriding thought has been to leave Michael and protect herself and the boys from his physical abuse. The story goes back in time to Marcella’s first days in Nice at 16 when she plans to become a famous singer, but is persuaded by her Italian parents to learn sewing. Michael is her teacher, and it isn’t long before they’re involved. He manipulates her into marrying him at 17 without her parents’ permission, and though their marriage is happy at first, Michael becomes increasingly abusive and Marcella fearful and lonely. The narrative’s first half is nearly sunk with extensive, sometimes gratuitous depictions of Michael’s demeaning behavior, but things pick up after Michael goes on the run with the boys and boards the Titanic with them, while Marcella pursues. A New York City debutante, Margaret Hays, narrates a portion of the voyage, and during the rescue operation, Margaret and the boys are fatefully joined. Despite the unnecessary length, this casts vivid light on a little-known chapter of the tragic voyage. Agent: Robert Kirby, United Agents.
October 15, 2021
The sensational true saga of the "waifs of the Titanic" is unevenly fictionalized in Imrie's sixth novel. This is a reconstruction, based on exhaustive mining of musty records more than a century old, of how two French toddlers, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, wound up on a Titanic lifeboat. An afterword by writer Fidelis Morgan, Imrie's researcher and fellow actress, reveals that this painstaking investigation also removes blame from the little boys' mother, Marcella Navratil, where history had assigned it, and places it squarely on the shoulders of their father, couturier Michael Navratil. Fleeing divorce, a custody battle, and bankruptcy in Nice, with more than 30,000 embezzled francs, Michael kidnaps the boys and, impersonating a business associate, boards the RMS Titanic, where his fateful comeuppance awaits. The first half of the book chronicles the travails of Marcella, a na�ve Ni�oise seamstress, who, at 17, falls under Michael's sway and marries him. A brief honeymoon period progresses to spousal abuse after the births of their two sons. Marcella files for divorce, a daring move for a woman in 1911. Much of the research described in Morgan's afterword is shoehorned into the fictional treatment, where it distracts from the dramatic arc. For example, the fact that Michael was abetted in the couple's hasty and secret London marriage by Paul K�hne, whose restaurant also figured in a scandalous attempted murder/suicide, is an intriguing real-life coincidence with no relevance to the action here, yet Imrie belabors this nonexistent connection. Similarly, Michael's American friends the Kirchmanns may have taken his side in the domestic dispute, but attempts to concoct a more sinister motive for their antagonism toward Marcella unduly expand their peripheral role. After a padded and digressive first half, the most gripping portion of the book belongs not to Marcella but to plucky New Yorker Margaret Bechstein Hays, the focus of the story's second half, along with the always riveting Titanic disaster. A nonfictional treatment might have better served this story.
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December 1, 2021
At first, Marcella thought she was lucky to live a comfortable life as a skilled seamstress married to a charming tailor, Michael Navratil. But when Michael becomes abusive, and her marriage begins to disintegrate, Marcella visits a divorce lawyer to discuss her legal options. Once a separation is established, the Navratils share custody of their two young boys, alternating weekends and holidays under the watchful eye of a court-appointed supervisor. But when Michael absconds with the boys to England, having purchased three tickets to board the White Star Line's largest cross-Atlantic steamship, he thinks his plan is foolproof. The fate of the Titanic is well-known, but Imrie's meticulously researched and well-plotted historical novel takes a closer look at the lives of the two young boys rescued from the wreckage, Marcella and Michael's sons. The author also dives deep into the Navratils' difficult marriage, Michael's cruel escape plot, and the frustrating bureaucracy that so often leads to unnecessary suffering. Fans of Lynda Rutledge, Christina Clancy, and Melissa Payne will be enthralled as Imrie follows a family on the brink of disaster.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
November 1, 2021
In this historical novel based on real events and people, Imrie (A Nice Cup of Tea) provides a glimpse into the glamour and heartbreak that was the sinking of the Titanic. In 1911 France, a dreamer named Marcella must find a trade. While studying to become a seamstress, she's swept off her feet by Michael, an ambitious, handsome classmate. Michael, determined to become the best tailor in Nice and to win Marcella's hand, proposes marriage, but her parents convince her to wait. In the meantime, Marcella and Michael work to fulfill his dream and open a tailor shop. Michael finally convinces her to marry; three years and two young children later, he has become abusive, jealous, and controlling, and Marcella secretly begins divorce proceedings. When served with papers from the court, Michael is outraged and determined to destroy Marcella. Meanwhile, New York socialite Margaret Hays is touring Europe with friends. Bored with travel and wanting to go home, she books her passage to New York on the magnificent new Titanic. At sea, the three characters' arcs collide. VERDICT While much of the first half of the book moves at a glacial pace, once characters are on board the ship, the writing flows and readers will be swept away.--Susan Santa, North Merrick Lib., NY
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