What do readers think of The Voyage of the Morning Light by Marina Endicott? Write your own review.

"The Voyage of the Morning Light" by Marina Endicott, although a lovely seafaring journey, was populated by a plethora of characters, many arguably, seemingly non-essential. The main characters were not fully developed in this work.

I could not get into any type of good reading groove with this one. The beginning was confusing to the point in which I had to read the publisher's synopsis to figure out what was even going on. Then a little bit of the backstory is introduced about the two sisters and I start getting my hopes up. But that was short lived and I just never felt fully invested in the characters or the story. I think this is a case of a book just not being the right fit for me.

The story takes place in 1912 and from my understanding of the Author's Note this book is a work of fiction but the writer did draw some inspiration from real life events and people. This book can be placed in the historical fiction genre but much of it is the product of the author's creativity and imagination. Thea and Kay are half-sisters and there is a bit of an age gap between the two of them. After their father died, Thea put her plans of marriage on hold to relocate and raise her younger sister. Now ten years later, Thea is recently married to the captain of the Morning Light ship. The newlyweds and Kay set off for a lengthy voyage.

I felt like I was able to better understand after reading the Author's Note what she was going for in the book and I appreciate the attempt to bring something different to the historical fiction genre. Unfortunately I had a hard time with the actual execution and had a bit of a choppy reading experience. Early on I felt like it was setup for me to care about the two sisters, but ultimately I just didn't, especially in regards to Kay.

Judging by some of the other early reviews, either the story hits home with you or it is a complete miss. While I had problems with the story, it certainly doesn't mean other readers won't enjoy it.

Honestly, I don't know if I will finish reading this book. Historical fiction is my niche reading, but this story was touted as a story of a devoted half-sister caring for a much younger sibling at the expense of her own happiness. The sisters are anything but happy and Thea's husband, the Morning Light's captain isn't either. A lot of characters are introduced in this tale but certainly do not add anything to the plot. Get me off this boat quick!!

This book is interesting in that the characters travel to far-away places on a sailing vessel, and later, on a steamship. However, the story is disjointed and confusing. The first half of the book is about two half-sisters. The book is written in the third person and the viewpoint shifts between the two sisters. Although one sister—Kay—is 11 and the other—Thea—is near 30, their voices are indistinguishable. There are many unnecessary details, including a temper tantrum that the younger sister throws, after which she alludes to other problems with her temper that aren't illustrated in the book. I couldn't see what the temper tantrum had to do with the plot or with Kay's character development, possibly because there was so little character development.

At the end of part one, we find one character in a tuberculosis hospital (I'm being cagey so as not to spoil the plot). One character notes that, if the sick character is released from the hospital, it will mean that the hospital staff have given up and that character can no longer be treated. I figured that meant the character would die. Two pages later, the nurse tells Thea that they are discharging the sick character. Then we jump to part two, eleven years later, and the former tuberculosis patient is a healthy young adult, and we never find out how he recovered. And there's a new character who was born shortly after part one ended.

Part two involves another around-the-world boat trip, this time at Kay's instigation. Again, the ports of call are interesting, but the rest of the story is stilted. A red toothbrush that the character bought at Filene's in Boston makes an appearance three times in part two, and I can't figure out why we needed to know about it.

I'll admit I like character-driven novels, and this novel is very much plot-driven. I think it could be a decent book with a lot more editing, including both reworking the story and cutting parts that don't help the plot move forward.