Publisher's Weekly Review
In this lush and intricately researched historical, Schaffert (The Perfume Thief) brings together a varied cast who, despite having tickets for an Atlantic crossing aboard the Titanic, are prevented by circumstance from taking its fateful maiden voyage. The tale is narrated by Yorick, who runs a bookshop in Paris, and whom the White Star Line replaced at the last minute as steward of the second-class library aboard the doomed steamship, having learned he was distributing banned books. At the story's center is a love triangle consisting of Yorick and two other would-be passengers who all meet when a Paris business owner calls them together as a publicity stunt: Zinnia, the striking mixed-race heir to her parents' confectionary company; and the handsome Haze, a photographer who specializes in capturing the decay of historic Parisian buildings, and to whom Yorick is immediately drawn, seeing in the Oscar Wilde--like artist a secretly gay man like himself. When Haze enlists Yorick's help in writing love letters to Zinnia, Yorick is devastated but complies, and they are all bonded by their shared brush with disaster. As Europe marches inexorably toward WWI, alliances shift among the three lovers and jealousies come to a head. The marvelous sensuous details--from the smells and feel of old books to the descriptions of Zinna's candies and the veritable river of cognac, absinthe, wine, and Dutch gin--make this star-crossed lovers' tale an absolute delight, and the underlying themes of book banning and suppressed sexuality resonate. Schaffert has outdone himself. Agent: Alice Tasman, Jean V. Naggar Literary. (Apr.)
Kirkus Review
A group of assorted characters who for one reason or another never made it into their assigned berths on the Titanic form surprising bonds in Schaffert's lush latest. A year after the sinking of the Titanic, despondent young Yorick, who has used an inheritance to purchase an antiquarian bookshop in Paris from which he sells remarkably few volumes, receives a mysterious invitation to a party with 10 other "survivors" of the disaster, including a famous actress, a mystery writer, and a toymaker, who assembled the group so they could share their stories. Yorick is particularly beguiled by Haze, a young man he sums up as "a yawn, and a stretch, and a flutter of long, ladylike eyelashes," and intrigued by Zinnia, the Japanese American daughter of a candy magnate. Though, at Zinnia's suggestion, the members of the group continue to assemble periodically to discuss controversial books, the plot primarily revolves around one romantic triangle: Yorick pines for Haze, who worships Zinnia, who longs for a romance with Yorick. A twist on Cyrano de Bergerac is added when Haze convinces Yorick to write love letters in his name to Zinnia. Schaffert has a much stronger gift for atmosphere than plot: He relies on the incursion of World War I, during which Haze serves as a freelance photographer, Yorick is commissioned to work as a censor, and Zinnia takes the reins of the candy company, to break the static triangle and then, postwar, wraps up the story hastily. The novel is at its best in evoking the sumptuous details of prewar life in Paris: a bookstore brought to new life by infusions of Zinnia's cash and taste, a night at the opera where the spectators spend as much time looking at each other as listening to the music, the secret club that feels like being "inside the Chinese box where Dorian Gray kept his opium--the black and gold-dust lacquer, the patterns of curved waves, the silk, the crystal, the plaited metal threads." For readers who enjoy swoony romance with a dash of history. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After you've narrowly avoided death in a notoriously tragic shipwreck, how do you approach your remaining days? For the memorable personalities in Schaffert's (The Perfume Thief, 2021) exquisite novel, their chance survival encourages them to pursue their desires. But what if these yearnings conflict or remain unrequited? Having opened a Parisian bookshop after his secret library of controversial volumes got him replaced as the Titanic's librarian, or so he believes, Yorick convenes a book club for fellow eccentrics who also missed boarding the fatal voyage. While Yorick falls for Haze, an impoverished photographer, Haze grows romantically obsessed with part-Japanese candy heiress Zinnia. Relations among this trio of beloved friends become complicated after Yorick reluctantly begins a Cyrano de Bergerac-style correspondence to Zinnia under Haze's name. Then the Great War disrupts everyone's lives. Schaffert writes stylish, intelligent fiction that casts new light on familiar settings, and his appreciation for lush details feels so very Parisian. This isn't a standard cozy novel about book clubs but rather an elegantly moody take on love, literature, and the indelible connections they create.
