MAIDEN VOYAGES
SIÂN EVANS
� 2021 St. Martin's Press
$28.99 / higher in Canada
368 pages

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Pay some bills, or splurge on a vehicle perhaps. Eliminate a school loan, donate to charity, and then take a vacation, maybe a cruise to somewhere exotic. That'd be a nice change. Although, as in the historical nonfiction book Maiden Voyages by Siân Evans, ocean travel also used to be a chance to change lives.

A hundred years ago, if great-grandma wanted to travel overseas, whether as an immigrant or for pleasure, it's likely that she had just one option: she went to a port, bought a ticket or got a job, and boarded a ship. It took planning and guts and sometimes weeks, but there was simply no other way to transverse the ocean then.

Once there was a time when it was rare to find a woman on a ship. Aside from the occasional captain's wife, stowaways, or gender-hiding adventure-seekers, few crews tolerated a feminine presence. By the turn of the last century, though, women were not only welcome on ocean liners, but they found employment there, assisting the growing number of seafaring ladies who may or may not have brought their personal maids.

One of those stewardesses was Violet Jessop, who started her career in 1908, at the age of 21. Born in Ireland and raised in Argentina, Jessop went to sea to support her siblings and her widowed mother. Her career might have drawn little attention, if not for her experiences on the Titanic and the Britannic, both of which sank, both of which Jessop survived.

Evans also writes of women who supported the troops in World War I and how they changed the world of work — and the way the Royal Navy operated — when the Great War ended.

Ocean-going women were also the reason formal luggage was invented. They helped escort new immigrants to new opportunities. And they brought glitz and glitter, amusement and scandal to both sides of the ocean.

In a nearly instant world where we can often have things seconds after we decide we want them, Maiden Voyages is an interesting perspective-shifter. How it shifts you will depend on how you approach this book.

First, there's the travel aspect: Evans writes of protracted journeys that, depending on the traveler, could mean weeks of tight quarters, tainted food, and zero amenities — all information that's surprising in its depth. You can expect to read about the opulence and prestige and the wealth aboard the ocean liners, but Evans also relates the realities of the steerage passengers. That puts the whole idea of early-twentieth-century ocean travel into very sharp focus.

On the other hand, there's the history, as Evans tells of determined women who went to work at a time when most women didn't, doing jobs they often had to forge themselves. It's a fierce chapter in women's history, and you'll be impressed.

Be aware that this book sometimes dives a little too deep and you may need to come up for air sometimes. Still, if you love unique peeks at history (and vacations!), Maiden Voyages will steer you on the right course.