Two of Adiba’s four leads (Emilie/Hinnah) have dark skin and I can’t help but think Emilie’s Haitian roots are homage to the ships only passenger of African descent, Joseph Philippe Lemercier Larochce. Adiba Jaigirdar, author of one of Time‘s Best YA books of all time, gives Titanic an Ocean’s 8 makeover in a heist for a treasure aboard the infamous ship that sank in the Atlantic many years ago. Sir Bill Taylor has almost fifty years of successful experience in public service as a full-time youth and community worker, manager and trainer professionally and as a Councillor, Committee chair, Executive Member, Mayor and deputy Mayor, Deputy Leader and Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council. Historical fiction doesn't have enough of a lens on the experiences of BIPOC people but the rep we found in this book was painfully lackluster. It’s historical fiction, but we have Black, Pakistani, and Croatian characters, a sapphic romance, and all but one of the main characters are immigrants, which is always fantastic to see.

We are told she misses the food from home but we aren’t told anything else and honestly I’m a bit confused about her character and background. In her utterly understandable attempt to bypass an awful trope while maintaining some realism, Jaigirdar, unfortunately, forfeits a genuinely uplifting and satisfying ending. We know that of the 425 women on board, passengers and crew, roughly 316 of them survived, that’s 74%. He thought he could pretend it never happened… until his lover plummets to her death from their hotel room.The only thing that managed to partially grab my attention was the fact that the Titanic had started to sink, but by then, the only aspect that somewhat grabbed my attention was that half of the main cast died. VERDICT Dramatic, moving, and energetic, this diverse historical novel about found family and choices at the end of the world is a YA must-have from the author of Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating. Josefa, a thief, chooses and then leads the girls on their daring escapade – they all have skills that will come in handy in the heist; Hinnah is an acrobat from the circus, Violet an actress with amazing talent, and Emilie an artist who can copy absolutely anything.

Unsurprisingly Adiba does a wonderful job here, balancing four POVs deftly, carefully bending their inter-personal relationships without them ever breaking. Kyle disappears in a loss that reverberates through his community, leaving his wife, Tamara, and their children under attack by forces beyond comprehension. Now, this doesn’t mean they are successful necessarily, the Titanic is a huge ship with so many moving pieces, not to mention security, there’s just no way to account for all of them, and the current owners of the Rubaiyat aren’t going to just let them have it.Because social, economic, and status aside, even those with milky-white skin in the steerage department stood a much better chance of survival than those who couldn’t speak English and/or had colored skin. The narrator done a pretty great job but it would have been interesting to see how a full cast would have brought this story to life. As the book progresses, we see the stresses and strains that old grudges, romances, and other actions create.