Literally Leander discussion

Our first book of summer was Stacey Lee's historical fiction, Luck of the Titanic. Be aware that there are major spoilers for the novel in this thread, so continue at your own risk.

This month, our optional discussion prompts were written by a staff member. Feel free to use them if you would like, but otherwise we'd love to see anything you have to say about this book!

1. Valora describes herself and her twin brother Jamie as “the dragon and the phoenix,” a perfect balance of yin and yang. Do you think that this is a fair description of their relationship?

2. Valora regularly has dreams involving her brother and their father. What do these dreams mean? Why do you think that they were included in the story?

3. Are you familiar with the history of the Titanic? If so, do you think Lee portrayed the story well? If not, are you interested in learning more about the ship?

4. Several of the characters aboard the Titanic were based on the real-life passengers. Why do you think the author chose to include some of the passengers, but not others?

5. Were you surprised to discover that Valora did not survive the sinking of the Titanic? Put yourself in Jamie’s shoes—do you think he has regrets about that night?

So Stacey Lee is one of my most favorite historical YA authors. I've read all of her published books. This one, unfortunately, was my least favorite. That's not to say it was necessarily bad though! Just, not as good as I was hoping it would be.



I'm also morbidly obsessed with the Titanic, so maybe that plays a part, too. It's hard to connect to a book where you know there is a very good chance that the characters are all going to die.

5. Were you surprised to discover that Valora did not survive the sinking of the Titanic? Put yourself in Jamie’s shoes—do you think he has regrets about that night?
So, I was pretty shocked that Valora died. Like, even though I knew there was a chance of it, I wasn't sure that Lee would do that to the readers. Valora certainly seemed like a character that would fight tooth and nail to survive, and she did... but she put her brother's survival over her own.

A mass death event like the Titanic would be devastating for everyone, even for people that weren't directly involved with the story. People who may not have even known anyone aboard the ship likely felt some sort of sadness at so many lives perishing. To be there, and to have a family member die, would be one of the worst things that I could imagine happening to a person. I imagine that Jamie is probably extremely regretful, even of things that he had little to no control over.