First published 2026
Nabiha "Bea" Nohra boards the RMS Titanic in 1912, bound for America where she hopes to earn money for her family's passage from Lebanon. When the ship sinks, she rescues wealthy passenger Marguerite Ashby from the icy waters. The two women find themselves caring for an abandoned infant whose parents perished in the disaster. They establish a survivors' committee to locate the child's relatives while navigating their own struggles in New York. Bea works as the baby's nanny, desperately trying to secure her family's future as conditions worsen in Lebanon. Marguerite uses their charitable work to gain social standing, hoping to avoid an unwanted marriage to a British lord her parents arranged. Their search for the baby's family grows complicated as deception clouds the truth. Time runs short as Marguerite's wedding approaches and Bea faces mounting challenges as an immigrant. The unlikely partnership between a Lebanese nanny and an American heiress defies social conventions, but their survival depends on each other.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, historical-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, poignant, thought-provoking
Tropes: class-differences, deception-and-secrets, fish-out-of-water, found-family, unlikely-partnership
Setting: RMS Titanic, New York, Lebanon
Period: 1912, early-20th-century
400 pages · Paperback · Harper Muse
Content warnings: death