A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly

Genre: Historical Fiction 
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Released: April 5, 2022
320 pages

About the Book:

Based on the remarkable true story of the Carpathia—the one ship and her legendary captain who answered the distress call of the sinking Titanic.

Shortly after midnight on April 15, 1912, the captain of the Carpathia, Arthur Rostron, wakes to a distress signal from the Titanic, which has struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Though information is scarce, Rostron leaps into action, determined to answer the call for help. But the Carpathia is more than four hours away, and there are more questions than answers: Will his ship hold together if pushed to never-before-tested speeds? What if he also strikes an iceberg? And with the freezing temperatures, will there be any survivors by the time the Carpathia arrives?

Kate Connolly is a third-class passenger on Titanic, and she is among the last to receive instruction and help after it hits an iceberg. Despite the chaos of abandoning ship, Kate is able to board a lifeboat, though after seeing the Titanic sink into the abyss and hearing the cries from hundreds of people still in the water, she wonders if any rescue is even possible.

Told in alternating chapters from both Captain Rostron and Kate Connolly.

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I learned so much from this book. Even though it is a fictional retelling of the response of the ship Carpathia to the Titanic's distress call you could tell that the author did quite a bit of research into this event and the author's note at the end detailed this. Story is told through through alternating perspective's of the Carpathia's captain, Arthur, and a Titanic passenger, Kate. There are also various journal entries and newspaper articles interspersed throughout. I was captivated. I enjoyed how the captain tried to put the passengers first and gave credit to his crew, not himself. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook. 

(I borrowed a copy of this book through Audible; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)