Here is the absolutely magnificent novel of the last days of romance, grandeur, and innocence. We meet on land and at sea the brilliant drawn characters, both real and imagined, whose fates are intertwined with that of the great ship: Captain Will Turner, confident that his beloved ship can survive anything; Kapitanleutnant Walther Schwieger, troubled warrior who must obey orders and sink the Lusitania. We see Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan, Winston Churchill, and Kaiser Wilhelm all struggling in the early days of the First World War. Most of all, we get to know intimately the men, women, and children who sailed across the Atlantic expecting only luxury and relaxation but instead became statistics in an earthshaking historical event.