NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author ofThe Perfume Thief, a remarkable tale about the life-changing power of books and second chances, following theTitaniclibrarian who opens a bookshop in Paris where he meets a secret society of survivors.
"Deeply moving and rich with vivid detail . . . Timothy Schaffert is an exquisite storyteller."—Lara Prescott,New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Secrets We Kept
For weeks after the sinking of theTitanic,Yorick spots his own name among the list of those lost at sea. As an apprentice librarian for the White Star Line, his job was to curate the ship’s second-class library. But the day theTitanicset sail he was left stranded at the dock.
After the ship’s sinking, Yorick takes this twist of fate as a sign to follow his lifelong dream of owning a bookshop in Paris. Soon after, he receives an invitation to a secret society of survivors where he encounters other ticket holders who didn’t board the ship. Haunted by their good fortune, they decide to form a book society, where they can grapple with their own anxieties through heated discussions ofThe AwakeningorThe Picture of Dorian Gray.
Of this ragtag group, Yorick finds himself particularly drawn to the glamorous Zinnia and the mysterious Haze, and a tangled triangle of love and friendship forms among them. Yet with the Great War on the horizon and the unexpected death of one of their own, the surviving book club members are left wondering what fate might have in store.
Elegant and elegiac,The Titanic Survivors Book Clubis a dazzling ode to love, chance, and the transformative power of books to bring people together.