'She Wore Only White' is a beautifully detailed story set in the era of large and luxurious ocean liners. It is a story of love and hate, loss and acceptance, tragedy and the road to healing. Many characters are introduced and voiced in this story, but it is the title character that connects them all and brings the story together and you realize how their journey across the vast ocean to another shore has helped them heal their painful pasts.
The story is told from on-board a trans-Atlantic ocean liner that is making its way across the ocean to Ellis Island in America, but there is an extra passenger on board that has all of the guests curious and jealous about, the woman in the white evening gown. The men adore her for her mystery and the women are jealous of her beauty. But why is she alone on the ship without a ticket or luggage? Why is she only wearing a white evening gown? Rumors fly as the woman is allowed out of her room only for dinner, since that is the only time her attire is acceptable for. During the interim, everyone speaks about her, trying to figure out her secrets without even knowing her name for themselves.
This story is told from the viewpoints of a few characters before finally hearing from the woman in white herself, Valentina. We are left in ignorance of her circumstances as well until we hear it from herself, and it is a shocking revelation, but you immediately understand why she is leaving her old life behind. It is a story about a woman wanting to change her life on her own after a tragedy has left her depressed and unable to continue her life like normal. She's tired of everyone around her and wants to start over, but it's difficult with a controlling husband and no one around her able to help. The story shows how depression was treated back then, and how little anyone knew about it, other than to send someone to the mountains so that "the fresh air would help" her and return her to a normal life again.
But it is not only her story that we read through the book. Hers is just the glue that keeps the book together, and helps the other characters stories come to be. It is an amazing and well-thought-out novel. If you like the golden age of ocean liners and elegance, then this book is for you. It will leave you filled with hope for the characters at the end of their journey and wanting just a few more pages, just so you can follow them onto the shores of America to see where they will go with their new lives, their new hopes, and their new dreams.
Check out the link to the book on Amazon below.
The story is told from on-board a trans-Atlantic ocean liner that is making its way across the ocean to Ellis Island in America, but there is an extra passenger on board that has all of the guests curious and jealous about, the woman in the white evening gown. The men adore her for her mystery and the women are jealous of her beauty. But why is she alone on the ship without a ticket or luggage? Why is she only wearing a white evening gown? Rumors fly as the woman is allowed out of her room only for dinner, since that is the only time her attire is acceptable for. During the interim, everyone speaks about her, trying to figure out her secrets without even knowing her name for themselves.
This story is told from the viewpoints of a few characters before finally hearing from the woman in white herself, Valentina. We are left in ignorance of her circumstances as well until we hear it from herself, and it is a shocking revelation, but you immediately understand why she is leaving her old life behind. It is a story about a woman wanting to change her life on her own after a tragedy has left her depressed and unable to continue her life like normal. She's tired of everyone around her and wants to start over, but it's difficult with a controlling husband and no one around her able to help. The story shows how depression was treated back then, and how little anyone knew about it, other than to send someone to the mountains so that "the fresh air would help" her and return her to a normal life again.
But it is not only her story that we read through the book. Hers is just the glue that keeps the book together, and helps the other characters stories come to be. It is an amazing and well-thought-out novel. If you like the golden age of ocean liners and elegance, then this book is for you. It will leave you filled with hope for the characters at the end of their journey and wanting just a few more pages, just so you can follow them onto the shores of America to see where they will go with their new lives, their new hopes, and their new dreams.
Check out the link to the book on Amazon below.