Distant Waves

by Suzanne Weyn

From the author of Reincarnation, another historical, supernatural romance, this time focusing on five sisters whose lives are intertwined with the sinking of the Titanic.

Science, spiritualism, history, and romance intertwine in Suzanne Weyn's newest novel. Four sisters and their mother make their way from a spiritualist town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on the Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them... and one could save them.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Fiction, Paranormal

330 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2009

About the author

Suzanne Weyn grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, New York. She has three sisters and a brother. As a girl, she was very interested in theatre and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author, but she also read every Sherlock Holmes story. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of her favorite activities. Even today, if she goes too long without seeing the ocean, she starts feeling restless.

Suzanne now lives in upper New York State with her husband, two teen daughters and Abby the cat. Her house is at the edge of the woods and is nearly 200 years old. She graduated from State University of New York at Binghamton and received her master's degree from Pace University. She teaches part-time at City College in New York.

Suzanne's other books for Simon Pulse include South Beach Sizzle, a romantic comedy written with Diana Gonzalez. Her novels for the Simon Pulse line "Once Upon a Time" are The Night Dance: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Water Song: A Retelling of the Frog Prince, and The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of Rumplestiltskin. She very much enjoys rethinking these classic tales from an original point of view, always looking for the real psychological underpinning of the story. Suzanne is currently doing revisions on her fourth book in the line, which will be coming in 2009.

Suzanne's other recent novels are include The Bar Code Tattoo (2004) and its sequel, The Bar Code Rebellion (2006). The Bar Code Tattoo was selected by the American Library Assoc. (ALA) as a 2005 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and was a 2007 Nevada Library nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction. It is currently translated into German and was nominated for the 2007 Jugenliteraturpreis for Young People's Literature.

Reviews

[Kaisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

The review I wrote on this book is over 10 years old at this point. Sometimes I get notifications that people comment on it or like it, and I go back... and I feel horrible about my harsh tone - and the words I decided to use to describe my feelings for this book.

I didn't like it. And I wouldn't recommend it. But I was too harsh, and came off as a bit childish (I was pretty much a child at the time, to be fair).

Anyway - I decided to remove it to spare myself and other people of an overly toxic review.

[Amy Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will be honest in saying that the cover and the hint of The Titanic is what captured my interest in this book. Before I had even read the summary, the cover sucked me into the deep story of supernatural tales weaved into the historical tale of the Titanic.


Even with warnings of sinking of the famous ship Titanic, the sisters and mother still risk their life on sailing the seas in the hopes that someone will be watching over them. With famous names that you read about in the history books, you will find yourself enjoying the story. I for one loved the character of Jane and enjoyed Thad as well. For the first part of the book, the story revolves around the characters home life and spiritual readings. This is where we meet Thad and fall for him as well. The second half of the book is about them setting sail on the Titanic and their voyage. You can tell the author did some research for this book but at times going a little overboard on the knowledge. This was not really a big issue for me though because I love anything and everything that involves the Titanic history.


If you are a fan of the Titanic history but like your psychic and paranormal themed books as well, then this book would be a great read to quench your thirst of both worlds. I loved the weaving of fiction and fact into one tale. A new author for me to keep an eye on!

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cover was beautiful. I also wanted to read it because the synopsis mentioned the Titanic.. and then I was thinking about Rose and Jack.. and then I pretty much was sold on this book.

Distant Waves was a pretty good and interesting book. Especially any book that mentions anything about the Titanic. Please hold, I'm currently swooning at Jack right now in my mind. Now in this book, four sisters and their mother go from New York to London. They meet with some famous people - read the synopsis if you really want to know - and they find themselves on the Titanic.

Yup, the famous sinking ship.

Now if that were me.. I'd probably lose my shit. However, they were all there willing to risk their lives. Of course the entire book is them on the Titanic.. or about the ship. Nah, that happens at the half way point and beyond. No, the first point was about their every day boring and mundane lives. It honestly was kind of boring to read but I did find some character that I liked. It definitely helped pass the time, pages, and chapters until I got to the more exciting parts of the book.

Once we reach the Titanic part... well, it was a lot better than the first half in my eyes. However, I could've done without all of the knowledge and crap thrown at me about this boat. I've seen the movie and the documentary - I'm good!

Overall, it was a good book. However, I guess I just expected more from it? Especially since the synopsis made me think that this book was definitely going to take me on a different journey than it did. I did enjoy Jane and Thad though - so that was definitely a highlight for me.

[Linda Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I'm just going to say that the title is VERY MISLEADING! If you are thinking about picking up this book to enjoy a story that takes place on the Titanic, you will be dissapointed. The Titanic does not come into the story until the last hundred or so pages and by then, the story is nearly over.

Now, after I got over being upset with the book because of the lack of involvement with the Titanic, I realized that I actually enjoyed Distant Waves. It turned out to be a very interesting historical fiction, somewhat science fiction and paranormal read. Once the story started to pick up, I was very engaged and eager to find out what happened next. When we finally got to the Titanic, I did enjoy this interpretation of what occured and found myself not wanting to put the book down until the last page was turned. I also did like the sweet and simple romance that was thrown in there. It was evident that the author did do her research and overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book despite it not being what I was looking for when origionally deciding to read it.

So why only three stars? To be quite honest, a lot of it has to do with the misleading title, cover, and synopsis. I wish this book had been packaged differently because as stated before, I was really upset when I realized what this book was really about. The other reason I only gave it three stars was because there is an insane amount of subplots! And many of them were quite unnecessary and strange. There was also many unnecessary characters and I felt like not a single character was fully developed.

In the end, I did enjoy Distant Waves. But for those who are wanting to read this because it says it's about the Titanic, take caution and know what you're really getting yourself into.

[Jinx · Rating 5 out of 5]

**Spoiler Alert**
A wonderfull piece of writing. I relished, enjoyed,cried during the whole vogage of readng as I felt her tears, her every word she had wrote.

The time travelling confussed me but had made my reading more satified near the end when Thad and Mimi appear not aged one bit.

The twin sisters had held my interst but had me deeply upset by the loss even though they share a bodyI still wonder what it would be like if both were still alive in the boook.

Not only did the book explain more about the Titanic, it also gave me detail about the un-noted people during the time of the titanic with a reclapse on spirts and science.

The people: the Fox Sister, Abraham Lilcon,Mary Todd Licon, Nikola Telsa, Einstein, Edision, Georoge C Bolt,Morgan Robertson, Sir Arthur Cocan Doyle, Kingsley Doyle, Harry Houdini(Ehrich Weiss) Willia Stead, John Jacob AShtor, LaRochhe Family, Madeline Force, Maggie(molly) Brown, Benjamin Guggenheim, Leontin 'ninetine' Aubert,Victor,Susan B.Anthony,Fedrick Douglas.
They were all real people in the time of the titanic either in it or mentioned.

This book has what other historical books may not have : an inside to the Modern time. I can say I sure travelled back in time with this book with all the genres: scienes, paranormal,adventure,romance, family--nearly everything!

(please excuse the spelling error.)

[Carrousel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was probably one of the worst I've read. Probably because my expectations were fairly high, but none the less, it was a disappointment.
I was hoping for a good book focusing the the voyage of the Titantic. When I opened the book and skimmed the first view pages, I was a bit intrigued by the spiritualist-aspect part of it. So I made the mistake of buying it.
I am about 115 pages in, but I am close to dropping it into the trash.
The beginning is very jumbled, like the author wanted to create a back-story for the actual story.

SPOILER ALERT FROM HERE ON

The first thing I found odd was the part where Jane and her family met Tesla.
I understood the book incorporates some paranormal aspects in it, but the part where the earthquake machine came around was just.. odd. It appeared out of the blue. And instead of the guy just destroying it and stopping the earthquake so less damage would be done, he thinks, "Boy, I'd best help thems persons out dur, so that I canna take thems inside der buildin, where weh could all persobly die, and cuz mur duhstruction while der muhchine runs. Dur. Ohs well.."
Another was how Jane always commented on how she "stood in the shadow" of Mimi's good looks, and how that that was perfectly fine with her, and how she just felt a "sisterly pride."
So..
You feel proud of your sister that she got all the hot genes in the family?
...

Anyways, another thing that weirded me out was the sudden appearance and disappearance of her long-lost aunt and uncle, and the way her mother tried to hide the truth from her.
One minute, out of all the places in North America, they find her in Spirit Vale. Then, in an hour, the aunt waves good-bye and skips out of the book.

My last complaint was how creepy-stalker-ish Jane was of Tesla, and how she remembered him after 10 ten years.

Seriously, I can't remember the name of a guy I met a year ago. And I'd known him for a few monthes. Not one hour.
I'd remember the machine-caused earthquake, but not the name of the guy, much less what he looked like.
At 6 years old, none-the-less.
But I was a bit weirded out by how Jane collected everything that mentioned Tesla, and kept it in a scrapbook filled with pictures of him.
And how she connected Tesla to Sherlock Holmes, and swooned over him, a guy about 30 years older than she.
Finally (the icing of the cake), he goes all the way to New York just to interview him, instead of choosing a closer-by topic, where she creeps out and stalks his intern (her love interest, of course)..
I'd give it 0 stars if I could, but alas, I cannot.
Sorry if any of these events turns around in the book, but I couldn't stand another page of it for much longer. It feels more like a children's book than a YA one, which was how I found it classified.
Perhaps I'll try to finish the rest of the 250 pages in one sitting (no huge feat).
Perhaps.

[Gwen the Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a just okay historical novel that centers around a family of spiritualists around 1910. The mother and her five daughters move to Spirit Vale, a village full of mediums after their father dies. The mother becomes a famous medium after an encounter with Tesla, the scientist, inspires her to talk about "spiritual vibrations". The daughter at the center of the story, Jane, is not sure if she believes that her mother and her twin sisters can really contact the spirit world. She is more interested in science and becoming a journalist. Jane is fascinated by Tesla after their encounter when she was just a four-year-old child, and she decides to go back and interview him when she is sixteen. She and her older sister, Mimi, head into New York City to meet the scientist and are swept into events that lead the whole family to Europe.

We don't get to the Titanic until more than halfway into the story, when an influential spiritualist tells the girls' mother that he belives the ship will sink. Mimi is booked to travel on the ship and the sisters sneak on board to try to persuade her to disembark, but become unwilling passengers when they ship leaves before any of them can. Away from their mother, the girls get swept up in the glamorous life aboard the ship, but we all know where this is going and can only wait to see what twists the author will employ to save (or not) her characters.

A very, very silly plot twist wraps up the story. Very silly. Not just implausible, but absolutely ridiculous.

The story and the characters moved things along well enough to keep me interested, but this is not really one I'd recommend.

[Dannii Elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the largest scale peacetime maritime disasters in history. It is an event that has fascinated me and when the book mentioned the so-called unsinkable ship in its synopsis I knew I had to read it!

I was disappointed to find, however, that the Titanic did not actually appear until 200 pages in to a 330 page book. Preceding this was an interesting enough story, just not the one I felt I had been promised.

Historical figures abound in this fictional narrative. Nikolai Tesla plays a prominent early part and later there features many others, many of whom met their watery end on board the fateful ship. The author did justice to these characters and I appreciated how their lives were recreated, for the purpose of this story. This was heavily researched and a section at the close of the novel details how much of the events were historically accurate.

Despite appreciating the story, I failed to bond with it. The focus on the five fictional sisters and their medium mother, who centre the plot, was interesting but slightly repetitive in events. The romance which came later held no appeal for me. The sisters enter the Titanic at too late a stage in the novel and I feel the synopsis is highly misleading about the actual story that this novel is attempting to tell. This is not the author’s fault and this story will undoubtedly hold appeal for many other readers. Unfortunately I was not one of them.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel. I loved how it contained the story of Titanic and embodied it into this fascinating tale of love, history and others.

The plot was very riveting. It drew the reader (me!) in immediately. I loved how Suzanne managed to include facts with fiction and spun it so it seemed positively awesome. Things like Telsa and other famous people were actually real (uhh, yea, I'm bad at history. Don't shoot me!) and so it was kind of like learning more about our American history while reading a book of fiction.

The characters were wonderful. Very descriptive and I loved their personalities. I loved how Suzanne seemed to describe the sisters fully because you know, there are some authors out there who doesn't describe their characters well so throughout the entire book, you're trying to imagine a clear image of the characters. Suzanne did an awesome job in describing them.

Jane, the perspective the book is written from, is a very interesting person. She loves Sherlock Homes which means she loves mysteries. I did too, when I was younger. It was always Encyclopedia Brown for me! :) She cares a lot about her family even though her older sister is only her half-sister, she still treats her with the same love and respect that she has for her other younger siblings.

And I loved the whole flashback thing. It was like present back to childhood that progresses to the main "meat" of the story - Titanic and then it brings it back to the present. I usually don't like flashbacks but this was done in a very riveting and fulfilling way. So what's not to love?

And the whole thing about mediums and spiritualism only added more interest throughout the entire novel. You really get to question whether or not ghosts and mediums are real or not.

Overall, Distant Waves was utterly fascinating and I definitely wish to read more of Suzanne's stuff.

[Doug Beatty · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one takes some great liberties with the Titanic story and gets a little bit loopy. It is the story of five sisters, two of whom are clairvoyant, who all end up on the Titanic. There are mentions of almost every person who was every person of the time period, and it makes one wonder how an ordinary person would run into so many celebrities! It seemed like the mention of the celebrities were what set it in this historical period and not much was in the descriptive details which it could have used more of. The plot was a little bit far fetched and without revealing anything it became even more far fetched, to the point of beyond believability.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! I really loved this book! It's "A Novel of the Titanic" but the Titanic doesn't happen until near the end of the book. It's a book that's interwoven with history, the paranormal, and a great story of five sisters and the events that lead up to them being on the Titanic on its maiden voyage. I loved the name dropping and the important people that Jane, the main sister heroine, meets. This includes the crazy inventor Nicholas Tesla, who fascinates me, the financier John Jacob Astor, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Boldt, manager of the Waldorf-Astoria who built his wife a beautiful castle on one of the Thousand Islands (this isn't in this story but I've been inside this castle), and a lot of other important people in history mentioned in passing. Also, I've read about Lilydale, NY, known to be a town of psychics and spiritualists. This book is set in Spirit Vale, NY, which I believe is really Lilydale.

When 4 year-old Jane's mother is left a widow in 1898 with also a 6 year-old daughter, 2 year-old twin daughters, and another baby on the way, she is intelligent enough to seize an opportunity to do psychic readings. The family moves to Spirit Vale, where she sets up her practice. On the way there they meet "crazy" scientist Nicholas Tesla who becomes a major fulcrum of the story. The book spans the years of the 5 girls growing up and there are some surprises along the way.

My only concern (complaint?) is that the author really reached FAR into the world of incredibility to give this book a happy ending. The story was much more believable until that event!

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 2 out of 5]

what a letdown. take a lot of really, super-fascinating historical subjects (the titanic, spirtualism, tesla) and write an utterly uncompelling book about them. what a feat! seriously, i had such high hopes and i was admittedly beguiled by the pretty cover. but it's such a not-great book. totally bloodless and by-the-numbers characterization and wooden and no soul and utter mish-mash, with an ending that is just laughable (spoiler: it's tesla's fault the titanic sank! luckily, the people our main character loved were spared death because tesla also compelled them to travel into the future! which everyone totally accepts without question and whee! happy ending!). probably i should only give it one star, but i didn't hate it this much while i was reading it. whilst reading, i just felt bored by it. it's only when i'm giving it some thought that i dislike it so.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

9 year old me had taste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This book is just as incredible as I remember it. Literally 12 years and like at least a thousand books later and its still one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read. The way the author just inserted every famous person aboard the Titanic intimately into Jane’s life is actually so funny. The fact that its about the sinking of the Titantic but also ghosts and mediums but they also time travel but also Nicola Tesla is like a main character is insane and just as enjoyable as an adult. Thad’s rants about rich ppl definitely contributed to radicalizing me as a child. I think about this book so much more than I would care to admit. LOVEEEEEEEEEE <3

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really need to listen to Goodreads reviewers. A lot of people said that this book was horrible, but I thought "well, maybe I'll enjoy it anyway..." Turns out, everyone was right - this was a very bad book. I honestly feel like I'm being generous giving this 2 stars.

Lately I've been interested in Victorian/Edwardian spiritualism and have read some YA/MG fiction about it. I decided to give Distant Waves a try, despite some negative reviews. I recognized Suzanne Weyn as one of the authors of the Once Upon a Time series and I thought I had liked one that she had written. Turns out I was misremembering which ones she wrote - I only read one of hers, Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince", and I thought it was absolutely awful (as in, I gave it a 1 star rating). If I had remembered that correctly, I may not have tried Distant Waves, but oh well. I'm finished with it now.

Distant Waves has two themes, essentially. It's a YA historical fiction about spiritualism and the sinking of the Titanic. These two themes could fit well together, but the author isn't very skillful here. The Titanic doesn't really appear until 2/3 of the way through the book, and considering this book is marketed as a "Titanic" book, this is obviously a mistake. I'm guessing that a lot of people read this for the Titanic aspect and they'll probably be disappointed. I (luckily?) read this because of my fascination with spiritualism, and that current does run throughout the whole book. Unfortunately, we have a lot of other things going on here. Nikola Tesla is very large part of this book, and his inclusion is honestly very strange. I had thought this book would be a pretty straight YA paranormal historical, but we also got some science fiction thrown in, and not in a way that makes much sense. I'm sure any Tesla fan who reads this will just be shaking her head the entire time. We also have a (very) minor side plot concerning early 20th century racism and I didn't think it was handled well at all. I do like it when YAs are diverse and deal with social justice issues but I'd rather an unskilled author just leave it alone. Weyn also includes some minor POC characters later on in the novel and their broken English is just cringe-inducing. I thought her critique on 20th century racism very rudimentary.

There are a lot more problems in the book. While I couldn't find much fault with the writing mechanics (believe it or not, I've read a number of professionally-written novels lately that had grammatical errors - yikes), the actual writing was pretty terrible. The dialogue is extremely clunky and is peppered with anachronistic words. Moreover, Distant Waves is an example of the worst kind of historical fiction. Instead of artfully weaving historical information into the narrative, the author just inserts facts unnaturally into the middle of dialogue and narration. Another reviewer suggested that it seems like the author just plopped some basic facts from Wikipedia into the book, and I have to say that description is pretty apt. I just have to give a few examples, because it really is that bad:

The party began with the band striking up a song that the band leader, Wallace Hartley, said was called "Ragtime Mocking Bird," written by a popular songwriter named Irving Berlin.

I had kept up my interest in Tesla by scouring the newspapers in the dusty, small, dimly lit Spirit Vale library. I learned that after we had seen him in New York, he had moved to Colorado Springs and built a huge radio tower. He claimed that the tower had received signals he thought must be from extraterrestrial beings living on Mars or Venus. I did not find this hard to believe; in Spirit Vale, people regularly claimed to get signals from locales much farther than outer space. He had invented something called a Teslascope, meant to aid in communicating with other planets.
In a yellowing issue dated 1900, I read that he had left Colorado Springs -- the article alluded to a suspicious fire in his lab -- and that his equipment had all been sold because he was deeply in debt. Then, in an issue from later in 1900, I learned that he had built another huge transmission tower on Long Island, New York, in a town called Shoreham. He had found a wealthy banker and lawyer named James S. Warden to back him this time; the tower was thus called Wardenclyffe Tower. Many other wealthy financiers were funding the project, as well. I cheered silently for my hero, the father figure who had saved me from the shaking ground. He hadn't been down for long.
In 1905 he invented something called the Tesla coil and then the Tesla turbine, but as I continued on in my reading, I saw that by the end of 1905, his tower had been shut down because his backers had lost faith in it. By 1908 the property had been foreclosed by the bank.

I'm sure I could expound on this book's faults, but I'll stop here. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to anyone. Perhaps younger readers (girls 12-14) might enjoy this, but I'm not sure how many more would.

[Anna]

This was a very interesting book about the titanic but it was very different from the titanic book I have read before. It has lots of history and science and spirits. These four sisters and her mom travel to New York and go through lots. They meet a man who they later discover to be a great inventor Nikola Tesla.

[Stephanie (Stepping Out Of The Page) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the cover and the tagline of this book and immediately wanted to pick it up. Whilst I haven't read all that much, I have really enjoyed the historical fiction that I have read. The tagline of this book tells us that it's a novel of the Titanic, and so I though that would certainly capture my interest. In fact, the book only partly (and quite briefly) takes part on the Titanic. This didn't actually bother me at all as I did enjoy the rest of the setting of the novel, primarily in a place called 'Spirit Vale', where many spiritualists reside. I do feel as though some people may think that the tagline is a little misleading - you should expect a lot more from this book than a trip on the Titanic.

I don't think that this was really a novel of the Titanic - it was more a novel of science and spirituality, set in a historical period, featuring some well-known historical figures. A lot of the novel centres around our protagonist, Jane, and her family's abilities to communicate to the dead, especially her mother, Maude, who is a medium and her two twin sisters, Amelie and Emma. I personally find mediums and spirituality very fascinating and that may be why I enjoyed this book. There was a lot of foreshadowing though, and of course we know what happened to the Titanic, and so this left little room for suspense. There is romance between a few of the characters, which adds something enjoyable to the story, but it did seem a little too rushed by the end.

The debate between characters as to whether or not this spiritualism was fakery or whether it was genuine, and the change of these opinions throughout, was fascinating. Distant Waves did have a somewhat paranormal feel to it and I would imagine that it would appeal to some young adult paranormal fans, though I did feel that the writing and plot itself is more geared more towards middle-grade children.

As I have mentioned, this book would fit into the historical fiction genre and some of the main characters that are mentioned were indeed real - examples include Nikola Tesla, Arthur Conan-Doyle and Houdini amongst others. I think that readers could gain some knowledge of these figures from this book as it does incorporate some facts about them and what they were famous for - the only problem is that many things that they're associated with are fictitious (and situations did seem slightly ridiculous at points) and so it could be hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Of course, this book could hopefully give a starting point for more research into these people.

Weyn also incorporated mentions of some other important historical points, such as women's suffrage and civil rights, as well as making allusions to the upcoming Great War. Unfortunately, it was as all of these comments were made in passing and sometimes it was as though Weyn was trying to cram in all mentions of these events for the sake of it - it felt a little forced. It may have been better if these points were developed.

This was a reasonably enjoyable, quick read but it felt rushed at the end, which was a shame. It wasn't particularly emotional and it didn't have enough suspense for me, but it was enjoyable enough. I think that I may have enjoyed this more if I was a little younger than I am now and that this would be a particularly good book for middle grade children who have an interest in history and/or science.

[Lyd's Archive (7/'15 to 6/'18)]

It was an interesting concept, the Titanic and the Spiritualist movement, but it was all kind of bland to me. Jane was likable but a bit dull and her romance with Thad was a bit rushed. I couldn't tell a lot of the characters motivations and they all seemed flat. I stopped around page 200 because I just felt unmotivated to go on and I've checked out a whole bunch of books from the library. It was better in writing than The Diamond Secret, but I don't know much about the time period, so I can't say anything about the accuracy (The Diamond Secret seems to have about nil).

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book by Weyn - ever.
She's outdone herself completely! Maude, the mother, is such a complex character. She unconditionally loves her children, but she has some things happening in her mind as well :s My favorite character? Besides Jane of couse, was Amelie. I wanted to know why she didn't speak, and once I found out why, I was just so intruiged. I yell out with happiness everytime I think of Thad and Jane - they're perfect. You should read this if you haven't already. It's romance, it's thrills, its suspense. It was amazing.

[Sarayu Tejada · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was a very different book compared to what I have read before. I found the part where their mom is a spiritualist interesting because I don't know anything about that topic. It took a while to get to the part related to the Titanic so if that is the part you are looking forward to you are going to have to read a lot of the book to get to it, and it also took me a while to understand it was a historical fiction because in the middle is when it started to relate to actual things in history. It also had a twist at the end that I thought was cool.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quibble with the subtitle "a novel of the Titanic". It took 200 pages to get the characters ON the Titanic and then boom boom boom the ship sinks and the book wraps up quickly after that. But still - an interesting mix of themes - spiritualism, technology (Nikola Tesla is a character), wealth, poverty, race and class.

[Madeline Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s no secret that I love this book. I believe this is the third time I’ve read it. It still makes me happy and fills me with such strong joy/nostalgia. I picked up on several things I’d missed in previous reads and loved it just as much as I did 10 years ago. Such a perfect story of ghosts, romance, Tesla, and the Titanic.

[Brooklyn H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but at some points of the book it wasn't that fun to read. But towards the end it got really interesting and fun to read. This book was about a mother and her five daughters. In there earlier years they had some troubles with finding a home and a job. As they got older they were drawn to a more hopeful life. Read more to find out the rest.

[Kermina Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this because of its beautiful cover and it was on sale but it came out to be unexpectedly lovely. I really loved the idea that it is build on real events and characters. It hit home with me on many aspects like that Jane is an aspiring journalist and how she took chances, this made me feel related to her. The storyline has some gaps but overall the story and execution is quite good

[Jess Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ✨

Ever wonder what would have happened if Nikola Tesla was on the Titanic? Yeah, me neither.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

What would you do if you had foreseen the sinking of the Titanic?

DISTANT WAVES is one of many re-tellings of the mysterious happenings surrounding the greatest shipwreck of all time, but Suzanne Weyn's version stands out with its breadth of historical research and, most importantly, with its allusions to the paranormal.

Maude Oneida Taylor is a famed psychic, one of the most respected clairvoyants in Spirit Vale, a small liberal town teeming with spiritualists and feminists. Mrs. Taylor's five daughters grow up in rather unusual circumstances, and none of them are typical American girls.

Mimi, the oldest, is stunningly beautiful, leaving home to pursue a more luxurious lifestyle and travel through Europe, though she can never truly escape her heritage. Jane, a budding journalist, is the most logical of the bunch, and the story is told through her perspective. Emma and Amelie, twins, seem to have inherited some of their mother's powers. Blythe, the youngest of the group, is completely mesmerized by the power that accompanies fame and fortune.

Growing up in Spirit Vale, the Taylor girls have seen so many clairvoyants, some who perhaps really have the gift and others who are clearly frauds. Jane has even seen her mother cheat, scribbling her own messages during "automatic writing" that are supposedly from loved ones that have passed on. There have been times though, when even Jane's jaded self doesn't know what to believe, such as during her sister Amelie's dangerous sleepwalking episodes.

Jane's life is influenced greatly by the ideas and attitudes of physicist Nikola Tesla. After a chance meeting in a man-made earthquake in New York City when she was only four, she has followed his career carefully, regarding him as a father-figure of sorts. Tesla's manipulation of electricity and inventive mind are incredible, only eclipsed by his generosity and lack of capitalist greed. Though Jane admires Tesla, it is his handsome assistant, Thad, who captures her heart.

As the Titanic sets sail from London, all five sisters find themselves on board, despite multiple predictions of its sinking. Sailing toward what might very well be their demise, Jane and her sisters must hope that somebody or something is out there watching out for them.

Weyn clearly understands the time period thoroughly, though occasionally the incorporation of facts seems slightly forced and almost weighs the story down. Readers do gain a wealth of knowledge, including little-known trivia about many celebrities of the era.

This book is a must-read for anyone who remembers Leonardo DiCaprio's "I'm king of the world!" line from the movie, or for anyone who has ever entertained the idea that maybe clairvoyancy isn't so far-fetched after all.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane and her sisters have lived in Spirit Dale most of their lives, with their mother who makes a living as a psychic. While Mimi and Blythe believe their mother is a fraud, twins Emma and Amelie seem to have some psychic powers of their own. Jane isn't sure what to believe. Through the years Jane meets a number of famous people, including the inventor Tesla (she falls in love with his assistant, Thad), and during a visit to London for a psychic conference, she meets skeptic-turned-believer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and total non-believer Harry Houdini. After a number of predictions that the new unsinkable ship the Titanic is going to sink, Jane and the twins sneak aboard the ship to stop Mimi and Blythe from disaster...

When I handed this book out to my book club, I told them about a book that had been written before the Titanic, about a ship that was similarly named and also unsinkable, with enough coincidence that people believed this book was a psychic prediction. I couldn't remember the name, but that book is mentioned in this one, and the author is one of the many cameos. I enjoyed all the famous people that walk through this story and how they are interwoven into the tale. Tesla (who was mentioned in An Abundance of Katherines, which I was reading concurrently) is a major character and I enjoyed learning more about him after hearing a little bit in Abundance. The themes of fake versus real psychic phenomenon was fascinating, especially learning the tricks of the fakes. I liked the narrator although I was not as emotionally invested in the characters as I thought I might be... the movie Titanic can get me very emotional, but I didn't feel like the Titanic sinking at the end of the story was emotionally powerful, which is why I gave this only 3 stars.

The historical notes at the end of the book gave some brief information about the well-known characters, although as the author states, the background information could have been its own novel.

[Lauren Kester · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the book "Distant Waves". At first I wasn't too sure about it because of the spirits and mediums. However the story was good because it had romance and history in it.

Jane Taylor is a sixteen year old girl who was born in 1894. She has four sisters named Mimi, Amelie, Emma, and Blythe. The Taylor family lives in a town called Spirit Vale. Jane's mother is a medium. A medium is a person who speaks to the dead. Jane grows up to believe that mediums are real. When she realizes they aren't Jane wants to leave and travel the world. Mimi and Jane go to New York where they meet Nikola Tesla and his assistant, Thad. Jane falls in love with Thad, and when she leaves she tells him to write. At home Jane never receives letters. Jane hears about a medium who predicts his death on the Titanic when it sinks. Jane, Amelie, and Emma go on the Titanic to try and stop Mimi and Blythe from getting on. While on the ship Amelie has a vision and a seizure. Thad appears and Jane stops what she's doing and talks to Thad. Jane and her sisters don't have tickets so they hide with Mimi and Blythe. While on the Titanic Thad and Jane fall in love. Mimi is getting married on the Titanic to Victor. On Mimi's wedding day the ship hits an iceberg. The ship starts to fill with water. Thad and Jane help Tesla make a time machine. Mimi comes down to try and get Jane in a lifeboat. After a big crash Jane, Tesla, Amelie, Emma, and Blythe are transported two hours into the future. Emma dies while Amelie suffers from broken legs and frostbite. Victor also died. When Jane returns home she tells her mother about Thad and Mimi being missing and Emma's death. Emma talks through Amelie because of a special connection between them. Two years later Jane does a story about survivors from the Titanic. Jane discovers that Thad and Mimi were transported two years into the future and only minutes have passed for them. Thad and Jane are still together, while Mimi grieves over Victor's death.

I would recommend this book to high school girls. Boys may read this book too. Girls would enjoy it more because it involves romance.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you get when you cross stories of love, science, heroism, mediums, and the worst martine tradgety of all time--the story of the "Titanic"?

You get "Distant Waves".

"Distant Waves" is quite unlike anything I've read before. Sure, I've heard the story of the "Titanic" many times--but this book focuses on more than just the tradgedy. The book is narrated by the main character Jane, a young, aspiring journalist who had survived the "Titanic" two years before. Her mother and twin sisters are mediums, so her childhood life was centered around the paranormal. She and her five sisters grew up in upstate New York in a town called "Spirit Vale", which at the time was a newly established psychic community (The town is actually based on the real psychic community of Lily Dale, the largest psychic center in the world). Most of the story is actually focusd around spiritulism. But when Jane decides to enter a journalism contest, she and her oldest sister Mimi travel to New York City to interview Jane's hero, the incredible Nikola Tesla. While in the city, Jane meets Tesla's handsome assistant, Thad, and quickly falls for him. Before it is time to leave, though, her sister Mimi insists on staying so she can become the maid to her newfound friend and travel the world. Jane then has to go home alone and tell her family that Mimi won't be comming back. Fate brings them together, though, as the sisters are reunited in London and again on the new white star liner, the "Titanic". It will then take strength, courage, and their sisterly bond to overcome what lies ahead for them in the icy cold waters of the Atlantic.


A gripping story of fate, love, and sisterhood, Suzanne Weyn's novel will surely find its way to a special place on your bookshelf.

[Running · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my review at my blog.

I was a little frustrated by this book because all it seemed to do was name drop. Every turn of the page these girls were running into the Guggenheims, Molly Brown, Nikola Tesla and John Jacob Astor. I understand that Scholastic likes to educate the younger readers, but really, Houdini? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? It was a bit too much. That and the Titanic doesn't even come into play until the last third of the book which I suppose is reasonable since how much time can you really devote to only four days aboard a ship?


This book is meant to keep the idea of magic and mysterious things happening alive for younger readers, and I can appreciate that. Under the heavy influence of spiritualism, Mimi, Jane, Emma, Amelie, and Blythe all grow up believing in spirits. The early part of the book explains their lives in a place called Spirit Vale where mediums and spiritualists live. We also learn that their mother is part fraud, but partly has the gift.


As also stated, we meet all of these famous names with whom the girls become friends with. This is a work of Historical Fiction, so not all facts will be right, such as Nikola Tesla being on the boat-that is a work of fiction. Jane was a likable enough character, which was good because she wasn't extraordinary, but she wasn't a total plain Jane if you will. Her sisters were also nothing special.


This book was a decent mediocre book, and I do think that I will read more from Weyn. I wish that there had been more about the Titanic, but what she had was suficient. I also did approve of the level of romance in it since it is a book for younger young adults.

[Sarah Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A more accurate subtitle would be A Novel of the Victorian and Edwardian Struggle Between Science and the Supernatural. Readers looking for a shipboard romance ala Jack and Rose will be disappointed. But those looking for historical fiction or a slightly skeptical dip into the paranormal will enjoy this brisk read. Our narrator is Jane, the second of five daughters of a potential clairvoyant, telling her life story two years after the fateful sinking. Suddenly widowed in 1898, her mother uses the doubtful “gift” to secure a home and living for the family in the New York community of Spirit Vale (yes, based on Lilly Dale). Jane is a budding journalist who favors deduction and logic like Sherlock Holmes, but struggles with evidence that her twin sisters may have real clairvoyant abilities. The sisters’ interests and talents led to the introduction of various Edwardian luminaries, particularly John Jacob Astor, William Stead, and Nikola Tesla, who in this tale causes Titanic’s destruction. Romances for the eldest sisters, creepy visions from the twins, and a glimpse at the opulence and injustices of the era will keep teens intrigued. There is nothing scandalous content wise, but the subtleties of the plot tensions based in this historical period would likely bore tween readers. Recommended for ages 13 and up.