Books Set on a Form of Transportation

Book Summary

Pacific Air Flight 385 is on a nonstop route from Seattle to Honolulu when the flight is hijacked over the ocean. Six people are dead—including the pilots.

Cora is a young widow, mother, and emergency room nurse…but as the world closes in around her, she’s also a pilot’s daughter. The motive behind the hijacking is unclear, which makes it hard for Cora to know who to trust. The man next to her is Seattle Homicide Detective Kyle Adams. Can he help her save the remaining 142 passengers?

Book Summary

Bessie’s mother was born into slavery, and Bessie grew up working on cotton fields in Texas. A few years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight, a plane flew over the field, and Bessie was enamoured with the freedom that could come with flying. She moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration and convinced two men to help fund her dream of becoming a pilot. Robert Abbott was the creator and publisher of the Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga was the founder of Chicago’s first Black bank.

However, Bessie quickly discovered that no one in the US would teach a Black woman to become a pilot. This didn’t stop her. At 28, she learned French and headed to Europe for flight school. She earned her pilot’s license two years before Amelia Earhart and learned death-defying stunts from French and German dogfighting combat pilots.

Achieving this dream didn’t make life easier. Her brothers were still at home suffering under Jim Crow laws, and her relationship with Jesse Binga became more complicated.

Book Summary

Aboard a short flight from Hobart to Sydney, Australia, a passenger (who will come to be known as “The Death Lady”) walks up and down the aisles telling each person the age at which they will die and the cause of death.

Some passengers learn that they have many, many years ahead of them. One person is told they will live to be 103. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are less than a year away.

A few months after the flight, one passenger dies exactly as predicted. Then, soon after, two more. Now, even those who originally viewed their encounter with “The Death Lady” as an entertaining story to share at cocktail parties are paying close attention.

Book Summary

Marian Graves was only an infant when she was rescued from a sinking ocean liner in 1914. She was raised along with her brother, James, in Montana, where they first encountered the miracle of flight when bi-planes passed through town.

By age 14, she had dropped out of school to pursue her love and entered into a dangerous partnership with a bootlegger. He subsidizes her plane and lessons, but with conditions. However, with his assistance, she’s able to pursue her ultimate dream in the 1950s – circling the globe, including flying over the North and South Poles.

In addition to Marian’s story, you’ll follow actress Hadley 100 years in the future as she plays the role of Marian in a movie. As Hadley digs deep into Marian’s life, you’ll see similarities in their self-determination despite their daily lives being so different.

Book Summary

One hundred and fifty people board a flight to New York. What they don’t know is that thirty minutes earlier, the pilot’s family was kidnapped. The pilot is told that the only way his family will survive is if he follows the kidnapper’s orders and crashes the plane. Buckle up!

Book Summary

A snowstorm stops the progress of the famous Orient Express train, trapping everyone on board overnight. In the morning, millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett is discovered dead in his suite, stabbed multiple times. However, his cabin door was locked from the inside, so how did this happen? And does this mean the murderer is still on the train?

Book Summary

Selva could have her pick of nearly any man in Ankara, Turkey, but the only one she loved was the handsome Jewish son of a court physician. Despite the protests of their families, the two marry and are determined to build a new life in Paris. But when the Nazis invade France and begin rounding up Jews, it’s no longer safe for them to stay.

After learning that Selva is among the citizens trapped in France, a group of Turkish diplomats devises a plan to transport Selva, Rafael, and hundreds of Jewish people to safety. From Ankara to Paris, Cairo, and Berlin, The Last Train to Istanbul crisscrosses a war-torn continent in an uplifting tale of love and adventure.

Book Summary

In Depression-era Kentucky, Del is the wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County. She tries to lay low in her rigid life but can’t keep the status quo amid her husband’s infidelity. When a coal train comes through town, Del bravely jumps aboard in what she sees as her only chance for freedom.

As she travels across the country, she finds a new community among the other transient outcasts. Nomadic single mom Louisa quickly befriends Del and helps her learn how to live life on the rails. But the Depression is taking its toll, and desperate circumstances threaten their close bond.

Book Summary

Accidental author Ernest Cunningham is headed to the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society Crime-Writing Festival on a train between Darwin and Adelaide. As he searches for story inspiration for his second mystery novel, he hopes it won’t involve real people killing each other this time.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work out, and one of the six crime-writing authors aboard the train is murdered. The remaining five authors quickly turn into detectives. After all, they should be good at solving crimes. However, their careers have also given them the inside knowledge of how to commit a crime and get away with it.

Book Summary

Each day, Rachel rides the same commuter train in London. As she travels past the back gardens of the houses on the route, she sees the same couple again and again and begins to feel like she knows them. She even names them Jess and Jason. From Rachel’s point of view, their lives look idyllic. She wishes she could be as happy as they are.

But one day, she sees something shocking. The train continues on, but now everything has changed. Told from three points of view, this one will keep you guessing!

Book Summary

Looking to escape his circumstances, Jacob Jankowski jumps onto a passing train and suddenly finds himself thrust into the world of a circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression.

Because Jacob is just shy of his veterinary degree, he’s put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. He becomes enamored with Marlena, the star of the equestrian show. But Marlena is married to the circus’s cruel animal trainer. Jacob also meets Rosie, an elephant that everyone had hoped would help save the circus, but who appears to be untrainable.

Book Summary

Author Torre is Australian, but she is spending a year in the US to escape a bad relationship at home.

On a night out in a San Francisco bar, she meets Ivan, a handsome Argentinian adventurer, and they have undeniable chemistry together. The only problem is that he’s leaving on a long trip alone across the ocean in his small boat. This sounds like a worst-case scenario to Torre, who gets seasick and has a fear of the water.

When her only options are saying goodbye to the deep connection she’s developed with Ivan or joining him on the boat, she chooses to face her fear of the water, and they set sail. This memoir chronicles the good and bad of their epic journey together as she embraces adventure in her mid-twenties.

Book Summary

In 1934, the luxurious cruise ship SS Morro Castle was headed on a round-trip voyage from New York to Havana with New York heiress Catherine Dohan aboard. However, her image of having it all is a lie, and her past catches up with her on the ship. She must join forces with a charismatic jewel thief to figure out who wants her dead.

Another passenger, Elena, is on the run after a devastating betrayal. She’s returning to Havana for the first time with her mind set on revenge. Danger abounds on what should have been a pleasant trip as Elena and Catherine’s fates intertwine and they fight to see justice served.

Book Summary

Mollie is hoping for diamonds for her tenth anniversary, but instead she receives a dilapidated sailboat…which was not on her wish list. And she definitely didn’t ask for a boat with a dead body on board. While she’s ready to ditch this project ASAP, her husband is still determined to restore the sailboat and set out to sea.

But, she’s drawn into the tight-knit community living at Palm Tree Marina in Coconut Cove. Soon, she has uncoverd a crime ring dealing in stolen marine equipment, investigated an alien abduction, adopted a cat, and learned far more about sailing than she ever wanted to. But can she find the murderer?

Book Summary

For 22 years, Becca has been married into her husband’s uber-wealthy family of lawyers. At first, her husband was one of the good guys. But as he got older, he began representing the types of clients that made his parents rich, the smarmy guys who had done terrible things to women and had the money to avoid punishment. After overhearing a particularly disturbing comment that went unaddressed by her husband, Becca reaches her breaking point and leaves her marriage.

During the divorce proceedings, the judge is shocked that she isn’t protesting her decades-old prenup and plans to walk away with absolutely nothing. Instead, the judge declares that she should get to keep the fancy sailboat that bears her name.

Becca runs into a dreamy guy at the boatyard who helps her sell the boat, but the buyers are in Miami. To save money on the delivery, she recruits her 21-year-old daughter to sail with her from New England to Miami along the US coast. The only problem is that she has no idea how to sail.

Book Summary

When you think of maritime disasters, the Titanic is probably the first that comes to mind. But the deadliest disaster at sea occurred in 1945 when a Soviet submarine sank the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner, in the Baltic Sea.

As WWII drew to a close and the Red Army advanced on Germany, a massive evacuation effort began to ferry civilians, soldiers, and equipment to safety. The Wilhelm Gustloff, which had a capacity of 1,800, was packed with more than 10,500 passengers. More than 9,000 people lost their lives when the ship sank, including 5,000 infants and children.

This historical fiction YA novel tells the stories of four passengers: 21-year-old Joana, who is fleeing her native country of Lithuania; Florian, an artist from East Prussia; 15-year-old Emilia from Poland, who is pregnant; and Alfred, a pompous 17-year-old German soldier.

When tragedy strikes, each of them, regardless of country, culture, or status, must fight for their survival.

Book Summary

Greta James had musical talent from childhood, but her parents had different visions of where that talent would lead. While her mother was her biggest fan, her dad could only see the likely pitfalls of a music career.

She has spent years trying to prove him wrong and reached the point of appearing on magazine covers and playing sold-out shows. However, with the pressure of a sophomore album and the shock of her mother’s recent death, Greta has an on-stage meltdown that goes viral.

She very reluctantly agrees to join her dad on an Alaskan cruise because she hopes it will give her an escape from media coverage and the pressure of her struggling career. Their relationship is as icy as the Alaskan waters. But together aboard the ship, they will finally come to terms with the baggage of their past so that they can face the future.

Book Summary

In 1946, after WW2, the HMS Victoria set out from Sydney with arms, aircraft, a thousand naval officers, and 650 war brides. The women had made promises to men in wartime and were now on a six-week voyage to England, where they would be reunited with their soon-to-be husbands.

Despite the Navy’s many strict rules, the brides and men aboard quickly found their lives entangled. The novel focuses on the stories of four cabin mates. For one of the young women, Frances, the journey will change her life in ways she never could have predicted.

Book Summary

A Night to Remember is still considered the best book written about the Titanic. It’s a riveting non-fiction account of the Titanic’s fatal collision, detailing the experiences of passengers and staff before, during, and after the iceberg collision.

While this book is a true account written based on interviews and news reports, it reads like a historical fiction novel.

Book Summary

After making a name for herself as a crusading young reporter for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper, Nellie Bly was determined to break the record for the fastest trip around the world. She set out on November 14, 1889, on a steamship from New York.

But she had competition. Also setting out from New York that day was a young journalist from Cosmopolitan magazine named Elizabeth Bisland. However, she was on a train heading west instead of a ship heading east.

This wasn’t the only way the two women were total opposites. Nelly was a scrappy reporter raised in Pennsylvania coal country. She used her work to expose social injustice. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was a genteel young woman from an aristocratic Southern family.

This non-fiction account of the journeys of these two trailblazing women reads like a great adventure novel.

Book Summary

Joybird is a cheery Uber driver with big dreams of becoming a life coach. Even her cranky father, a thrice-divorced former TV writer, can’t bring down her glass-half-full attitude when he moves in with her.

After handsome Wall Street exec Devon receives excellent advice from Joybird during his Uber ride, he convinces her to start her life coaching business right from the front seat of her car. As she tries to help all her passengers find the right direction, she also works to pave her own future.