Short stories with cats set in mainly in TOKYO
A voyage to a new life in America
13th April 2018
The Ocean Liner by Marius Gabriel – a voyage to a new life in America.
As WW2 breaks out in Europe, the SS Manhattan is preparing to set sail for New York. Chock full of passengers who are trying to escape the mayhem that is rapidly unfolding. The ship leaves Bremen, and picks up passengers in Le Havre and Southampton – before heading to Cobh in Ireland and out into the Atlantic. Many are Jews fleeing in front of the Nazis, many others simply fear for their lives if the stay in Europe. And they are a pretty disparate collection. The lead protagonists are cousins, Masha and Rachel Morgenstern, leaving everything behind them to start a new life. Masha has abandoned her family (at their instigation) to a concentration camp in order to make her escape, Rachel has been abandoned by hers following a stain on her character. The ship is full of famous persons – the composer Igor Stravinsky, the conductor Arturo Toscanini, Rose Kennedy taking her children back to safety in the States leaving her ambassador husband to follow, and Fanny Ward the indestructible (and aging) igénue and film star. And then there is 18 year-old Thomas König – obliged to share a cabin with Stravinsky because of the overcrowding on the ship. Perhaps there is more to him than appears apparent?
The American (and clearly labelled as such) ship is stalked by a U-Boat as she heads out to The Western Approaches. Will the German captain choose to attack her, or will his own crew point out the folly and ‘dissuade’ him? What will happen to both vessels? A dramatic mid Ocean clash.
The last part of the book is set in the States (OK, the SS Manhattan did make it through safely…) and traces the history of the passengers well into the last decades of the 20th Century. It is in equal measure both touching and fascinating as their stories develop.
The Ocean Liner is not a true story, but it is based on an amalgam of true stories – greatly embellished by the author. Stravinsky, Toscanini, Rose Kennedy, and Fanny Ward all made it to America by sea as the war in Europe began. There are details in Marius Gabriel’s portraits of each that ring very true. Hard to tell sometimes where fiction takes over from fact. For example the story of Rose Kennedy’s eldest daughter, Rosemary’s, battle with mental health and the cruel treatment she received is true – but Rosemary’s passionate affair with Cubby Hubbard is imagined. The truth is woven in alongside perfectly possible embellishments. The relationship between Stravinsky and Thomas König is believable as is Thomas’ infatuation with Masha Morgenstern. It is a device that I thought might be really difficult to pull off – but Marius Gabriel certainly makes it work. But it is always worth remembering that The Ocean Liner is a work of fiction rather than a history text book…!
Highly recommended.
Tony for the TripFiction team
Do come and join team TripFiction on Social Media:
Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)
And for more books set on the Atlantic, please click here
Please wait...
