Surely the most famous ship in the world, Cunard's QE2 has captured the headlines for 40 years as she plies her glamorous trade around the globe. The book takes a warts and all look at this fabulous ship. Starting with her revolutionary design and the arguments surrounding her construction and moving on to her time in service with sometimes troubled voyages undergoing engine failure, stowaways, storms, collisions and wartime derring-do.
There has been no more beloved liner than the Queen Elizabeth 2. The last liner to be built on British soil, she was constructed by John Brown & Co., Clydebank (Scotland) and her keel was laid on July 5, 1965, marking the start of her illustrious career. Her maiden voyage left Southampton on May 2, 1969, bound for New York, and she has remained in service for the past 40 years. She had a spell as a military ship from 1982, when she was requisitioned to serve as a troop carrier during the Falklands War, and during her military career QE2 successfully sailed more than 14,900 miles. Post-war, she has had many refits, including a headline-grabbing total refurbishment in 1994 to turn her into a 21st-century luxury liner. In November 2008, QE2 retired to a new life in Dubai World, where she began her conversion to a floating hotel, and the last chapter of her exceptional life in service will close.
Fifty years ago, the last British-built transatlantic liner was launched. Christened by HM The Queen on September 20, 1967, the 963-feet-long vessel was named Queen Elizabeth 2. By the end of that same day, she was already known by her famous nickname: QE2. Fast, smart and sleek, QE2 sailed more than 5.6 million miles and carried more than 2.5 million passengers during a magnificent 39 1/2 year career. Put simply, she carried more people further than any ship before her and remains the longest-serving express liner in history. Through words penned by passionate QE2 travelers and with tribute stories from captains, crew, and guests, a wide selection of carefully selected photographs bring this wonderful ship to life.
Bestselling mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher is invited to travel to London on the grand dame of ocean liners, the Queen Elizabeth II, as one of seven guest lecturers. The night they set sail, a fellow speaker is found brutally murdered. Now Jessica has just four days at sea to find the killer...before she finds more of her colleagues, or even herself, dead in the water!
A stunning and revelatory oral history of Queen Elizabeth II and her reign. There seems an unquenchable fascination with the British royal family on both sides of the Atlantic, borne out by the popularity of The Crown on Netflix, the spotlight on the Sussexes and Cambridges, and the media attention on the death of Prince Philip. These detailed interviews and insightful accounts range from the very early years of her reign to Prince Phillip’s death in 2021. Covering the shocking death of her father and the adjustment required of a newly married couple as well as the turmoil of the later years and her grandchildren’s families. This lavishly produced hardback with rarely seen color photos paints a full, detailed and sympathetic portrait of a life lived in service. Featuring interviews from diverse sources from private staff at Buckingham Palace and family friends, to international figures like Nelson Mandela, it contains a broad spectrum of views on Queen Elizabeth II—her story and her personality and how her life has intersected and impacted others.
An account of the childhoods and early adulthoods of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, as told by one of their primary caregivers, offers insight into early twentieth-century British royal life.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.
A "giant of the seas, " the transatlantic liner Queen Mary 2 is longer than the Eiffel Tower is high and can carry more passengers than any ship in history (up to 3,090, in addition to 1,253 crew members). This book provides an in-depth look at the ship, with photos illustrating the laborious construction process.
One of the most anticipated reads from InStyle, HelloGiggles, Hypable, Bookbub, and Bookriot! One of Real Simple's Best Historical Fiction novels of the year! “The Gown is marvelous and moving, a vivid portrait of female self-reliance in a world racked by the cost of war.”--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it. “Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel.” —Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming wedding London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nan’s connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin? With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersecting throughout its pages, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.
