Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived - Hardcover

Wilson, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1451671563 ISBN 13: 9781451671568

Publisher: Atria Books, 2012

Synopsis

IN the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, the icy waters of the North Atlantic reverberated with the desperate screams of more than 1,500 men, women, and children—passengers of the once majestic liner Titanic. Then, as the ship sank to the ocean floor and the passengers slowly died from hypothermia, an even more awful silence settled over the sea. The sights and sounds of that night would haunt each of the vessel’s 705 survivors for the rest of their days.

Although we think we know the story of Titanic—the famously luxurious and supposedly unsinkable ship that struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Britain to America—very little has been written about what happened to the survivors after the tragedy. How did they cope in the aftermath of this horrific event? How did they come to remember that night, a disaster that has been likened to the destruction of a small town?

Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished letters, memoirs, and diaries as well as interviews with survivors’ family members, award-winning journalist and author Andrew Wilson reveals how some used their experience to propel themselves on to fame, while others were so racked with guilt they spent the rest of their lives under the Titanic’s shadow. Some reputations were destroyed, and some survivors were so psychologically damaged that they took their own lives in the years that followed.

Andrew Wilson brings to life the colorful voices of many of those who lived to tell the tale, from famous survivors like Madeleine Astor (who became a bride, a widow, an heiress, and a mother all within a year), Lady Duff Gordon, and White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay, to lesser known second- and third-class passengers such as the Navratil brothers—who were traveling under assumed names because they were being abducted by their father.

Today, one hundred years after that fateful voyage, Shadow of the Titanic adds an important new dimension to our understanding of this enduringly fascinating story.

About this title

Review:

As harrowing as the disaster was the fate of the 705 survivors whose lives were scarred by the horrors of that night. Andrew Wilson, the equal of Walter Lord, reports this side of the story in 'Shadow of the Titanic' , a gripping account of the sinking s bitter aftermath --The Observer

Their stories are invariably sad affairs of depression, anger and, in some cases, suicide, as the survivors tried and generally failed to banish thoughts of the horror from their minds. The seasoned journalist s account is well conceived and written, as he explores an original angle on the infamous event --The Sunday Business Post

'Shadow of the Titanic' distances [itself] from any portentous tendency to mythologise, choosing instead to tell the story as a series of mini-tragedies seen through the eyes of multifarious participants in the event --Financial Times

About the Author:

Andrew Wilson is a journalist who has written for the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph and the Observer. He is the author of the critically acclaimed BEAUTIFUL SHADOW: A LIFE OF PATRICIA HIGHSMITH, THE LYING TONGUE, HAROLD ROBBINS: THE MAN WHO INVENTED SEX and SHADOW OF THE TITANIC.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1451671563
• ISBN 13: 9781451671568
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400