A Million to One

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A catastrophe like the Titanic is fertile ground for moments of unrequited heroics, acts of sublime courage and grace as many on board were knowingly facing their final moments on this earth. I sympathize with Hinnah on never feeling like she was enough or could be accepted for who she was, but if we don't get any insight into WHY her parents acted the way they did, the readers are left with the same old "my brown parents are oppressive" shit that the Western world loves to eat up and use as justification on why no woman would ever want to voluntarily choose modesty. Historical fiction doesn't have enough of a lens on the experiences of BIPOC people but the rep we found in this book was painfully lackluster. I stopped reading for a few days and then I couldn’t find the interest or energy to continue it anymore. Honestly, I'm glad she didn't delve into the religious background because I am sure she would've butchered the idea of gender separation that exists in Islamic spaces (to be clear: Islam does not advise you to kick out your child if you see them with someone of the opposite gender lmaooo.

Hinnah from Karachi is the youngest of the group, and she’s eager to leave a thankless job at the circus and put her contortionist abilities to better use aboard the Titanic by sneaking through circulation vents and into locked cabins. To the outside world, Kyle Fasano had it all: a good job, the love of his family, and a beautiful house on the hill.But careless mistakes, old grudges, and new romance threaten to jeopardize everything they’ve worked for and put them in incredible danger when tragedy strikes. Josefa can't score it alone, so she enlists a team of girls with unique talents: Hinnah, a daring acrobat and contortionist; Violet, an actress and expert dissembler; and Emilie, an artist who can replicate any drawing by hand. Although aimed at young readers, I think this is more suited for 14 and above because there is a small amount of swearing and some challenging vocabulary. It’s historical fiction, but we have Black, Pakistani, and Croatian characters, a sapphic romance, and all but one of the main characters are immigrants, which is always fantastic to see. This high-seas heist is described as a novel that ‘gives Titanic an Ocean’s 8 makeover…an immersive story that makes readers forget one important detail – the ship sinks.

Violet - a Croatian immigrant in Ireland who is trying to put together finances to reunite with her brother Marko.

This plot point left such a bad taste in my mouth, I genuinely don't know what Jaigirdar hoped to accomplish with this. And right away Adiba wants you to be aware of time, with not so subtle dated/timed epigraphs reminding you that we’re on the clock. And so his unique career journey would continue to unfold, encountering a seemingly endless succession of superlatives, larger-than-life characters and astonishing events. I’m going to start this review worh the ending because it was much sadder than I anticipated - though I knew it would be a possibility!