As someone obsessed with reading and learning about the Titanic and the era of ocean liners, I have always found the tragic stories of the personal heartbreaks that occurred during the over two hours it took for the ship to sink the most fascinating part of the story, especially that of the newlyweds, John Jacob Astor and Madeline (Force) Astor. One of the wealthiest men of the time decided to divorce and marry a much younger woman years later who was not considered part of the same class.

This novel is a series of letters and stories written by Madeline after the sinking of the Titanic. It is a story about her and her husband's story for their son, whom she was pregnant with during the sinking. She details her early life, seeing Jack Aster from afar and meeting him when she was a bit older. Through his slight romancing and the flowers he sends, we, as readers, see Madeline teach her son the language of flowers and what he should send to a lady he plans on wooing later in life. From her perspective, we get a glimpse of the life she is thrust headfirst into when she becomes engaged to the most eligible divorcé of the Gilded Age. We follow her into her meeting Margaret Brown and travel through Egypt before boarding the Titanic to travel back to the United States. Most interestingly, we get to see the confusing nature of the drowning from the passengers who were constantly told that everything was okay until the very last minutes when she's shoved onto a lifeboat and never sees her husband alive again. We see Madeline, who becomes the survivor of this trauma, dealing with a world and step-son who doesn't believe she belongs and now has to raise a child without her husband and decide how she wants the world to see her.