Canadian Pacific was one of the great Atlantic liner companies, sailing out of Liverpool on the St Lawrence route to Montreal and Quebec. With crisp white hulls and their distinctive chequered funnels, they were the 'Empresses of the Atlantic', a great part of the last grand era of the Atlantic liners. Classic, two-class ships, they were also well-known as popular winter cruise ships.

Covering the period from the end of the Second World War until 1971, when the fleet was sold off, the book begins with the renovated Empress of Canada and Empress of France, taking us through the new builds of the 1950s, including the Empress of Britain, Empress of England and the company's swansong, the beautiful Empress of Canada, constructed in 1961. British, Canadian and American travellers remember the Empresses with fond memories and the ships also continued sailing for other companies, including the fledgling Carnival, now the largest cruise company in the world.