A wonderful author’s note clearly sifts fact from fiction. This is the catalyst for the rest of the novel. The novel starts with a young Jane and her sisters, watching as their mother, a physic, attempts to contact a spirit. The story centers around a young woman named Jane Taylor, as well as her sisters and mother. The ending, too, requires a leap of faith some readers may not be willing to take, but the sweeping action, mysticism, and romance should ensure that most will gladly take the plunge. Distant Waves is a novel published by Suzanne Weyn. Various other luminaries drift in and out of the story, and only occasionally do their appearances feel forced. The latter camp is represented by real-life scientist Nikola Tesla his inventions indirectly lead to Jane meeting her true love (and, in a neat bit of historical revisionism, even have something to do with the Titanic’s fate). Most central is the turn-of-the-century spiritualist movement: Jane is one of five daughters born to a well-known spirit medium, and although she wants to believe in the practices of her mother-and particularly her eerie twin sisters-she finds herself constantly struggling at the intersection of faith and science. Instead of using the tragedy as a plot engine, Weyn employs it as but one of the historical forces she juggles to propel her unusual story. For starters, the doomed ocean liner doesn’t appear until the book is two-thirds finished. Plenty of fiction has been set aboard the Titanic, but Weyn’s take on the infamous disaster is wholly original.
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