LEAH Fleming, who divides her writing time between Yorkshire and Crete, has taken the loss of the Titanic and involved fictional characters in the tragedy to produce a convincing story of the disaster and what might have happened to survivors.

English first class passenger Celeste is heading home; May is accompanying her husband, Joe, and baby, Ellen, to seek a new life in America, away from the back streets of Bolton.

When Captain Smith hands a baby to May, distraught at the loss of her own child and husband, she accepts the baby as her own and creates a secret that will last all her life and involve the lives of others.

Along with this, the author brings a bond between May and Celeste, forged in the lifeboat, that will last through trials and tribulations and family differences, and the influence of the Titanic’s sinking on people who were not on board.

Leah Fleming draws all the threads together to make a plausible story against a true background with skill and the ability to keep us reading to the end.