⭐⭐⭐
The Second Mrs. Astor promises glittering Gilded Age drama, but it only truly comes alive when history does the heavy lifting. The strongest, most engaging portion of the novel is the section devoted to the sinking of the Titanic. Those chapters crackle with tension and urgency, finally giving the story some much-needed momentum and emotional weight.
Unfortunately, everything before and after that pivotal event feels thin by comparison. Madeleine Astor should be a fascinating figure—a young woman navigating scandal, wealth, and rigid social expectations—but she never fully steps off the page. The marriage to John Jacob Astor IV is treated more as a plot device than a relationship worth exploring in depth, and much of the surrounding high-society intrigue feels repetitive rather than revealing.
The writing is competent and readable, but it rarely surprises. Large stretches of the novel focus on manners, gossip, and social positioning without offering fresh insight into either character or era. As a result, the pacing sags, and the emotional stakes remain oddly low for a story built around one of history’s most infamous disasters.
Readers drawn to Titanic fiction may find the shipboard chapters worth the trip. Everyone else may wish the novel spent less time at the luncheon table and more time where the story actually matters—on the deck, in the dark, with history closing in.