It is early 1912 when teenage newlyweds Ian and Glynnis McLean decide to immigrate from Ireland to San Francisco. Slated to depart as first-class passengers on an American-owned ship, their plans suddenly change when that voyage is canceled due to a coal strike. After the McLeans trade in their tickets for second-class accommodations aboard the Titanic, they unknowingly transform the course of their lives forever. Only one of them survives that frigid April night. In her possession is her beloved diaries-the only things she saves besides herself.

In diary entries that begin in 1903,...