Audible Review The Ocean Liner by Marius Gabriel

Ever since audible stopped giving daily deals to non-members I've been scouring the kindle sale shelves and scooping up interesting looking titles that offer the audible for $1.99. The Ocean Liner is one of those finds and a very good one.
Enjoy!

The Ocean Liner

By: Marius Gabriel
Narrated by: Angela Dawe
Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Source: Amazon

Buy: Amazon/Audible

Overview:

As war engulfs Europe, 1,500 passengers risk everything to find a brighter future.

Cousins Masha and Rachel Morgenstern board the luxury liner the SS Manhattan bound for New York, desperate to escape the concentration camps that claimed the rest of their family. America offers a safe haven, but to reach it they must survive a hazardous Atlantic crossing.

Among their fellow passengers fleeing the war, each with their own conflicts, secrets and surprises, are the composer Igor Stravinsky, making a new start after a decade of tragedy, and Rose Kennedy, determined to keep her four children from harm. Particularly worrying to Rose is her daughter Rosemary, a vivacious but troubled woman whose love for a Californian musician may derail her family's political ambitions. And then there's young Thomas, a Nazi with a secret...

But, under the waves, the Manhattan is being stalked by a German U-boat. Will any of those aboard the ocean liner ever achieve their dream of a new life in America?

Listen to a Sample:

My Review:

The Ocean Liner
Marius Gabriel

My favorite novel era is WWII and The Ocean Liner Marius Gabriel’s newest historical novel is a fantastic example. It loosely follows actual historical events and real people while also taking realistic and understanding artistic liberties as he sees fit to make the story flow and keep the pages turning. He also preserves the genuine feel and attitudes of the people of the time from Nazi sympathizers to Jews fleeing the horrors of Hitler to well meaning yet utterly uniformed Americans who like always think of themselves as being above all others. Its well written and well researched and yet its still Fiction so don’t go on a fact checking rampage just enjoy a fabulous fictional historical tale and when you’re done be sure to share the joy.

The narration by Angela Dawe is superb, she really gets the accents of the characters right, does both male and female voices well and her vocal inflections are right on. She gives her listening audience a bit more than reading alone can deliver.

In 1939 amidst the chaos in Europe as Hitler begins his murderous march through Germany’s neighboring countries the brand new luxury liner USS Manhattan sets off from Southampton heading to New York. The passengers are a reflection of the world as a whole, left wing right wing and those in between. Those who like Hitler blame the Jews and imperfect human specimens for all the worlds ills, the famous and infamous like the great composer Igor Stravinsky, the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini and film star Fanny Ward plus Rose Kennedy whose dealing with yet another scandal caused by her eldest daughter Rosemary is escorting the remaining of her children back to the safety of the states. Also on board are the refugees like the Morganstern cousins Rachel and Masha who have seen their loved ones rounded up and arrested and are fleeing hoping to find a future in the US. The captain is a seasoned sailor and knows he’s not dealing with calm waters knowing they like so many other vessels could be victims of a German U boat attack but also hoping that flying the Red White and Blue will keep them out of harms way.

About the author:

Marius Gabriel is the author of THE PARISIANS, THE OCEAN LINER, THE DESIGNER and other best selling historical novels. According to Cosmopolitan, he "keeps you reading while your dinner burns." He began writing to support a young family while studying at university in the north of England.His novel set in the wartime world of Paris fashion, The Designer, won the Romantic Novelists Association Prize for Historical Romance.He lives in Lincolnshire and has three grown-up children. 

About the narrator:
Angela Dawe is originally from Lansing, Michigan, and currently calls Chicago home. Her work includes film, television, theater, and improvisational comedy, as well as audiobook narration. Among Angela's recordings are The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry, Wild Roses by Deb Caletti, and Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts. She hopes you enjoy listening as much as she enjoys narrating!