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

From an acclaimed biographer, a riveting account of what happened to the survivors of the Titanic—to be published in the lead-up to the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking.April 14, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. While much has been written about the great ship, her shocking demise, and those who perished, very little has been devoted to the hundreds of survivors. In Shadow of the Titanic, Andrew Wilson offers a moving look at how their lives were affected by living through this catastrophic event.

For the first time ever, those who lived to tell the tale reveal how they coped in the aftermath. Using archival research and interviews with family members, Wilson offers a unique take on this fascinating story. He shows how some survivors used their experience to propel themselves on to fame and how others were wracked with guilt and refused to acknowledge they had been there. Some reputations were destroyed, and some survivors were so psychologically damaged that they took their own lives years later.

From the famous survivors like Bruce Ismay and Madeline Astor—who became a bride, a widow, and a mother all within a year—to lesser known survivors Dorothy Gibson and the Navartil brothers—who were traveling under assumed names because they were being abducted by their father—Shadow of the Titanic offers a host of astonishing stories that add an important new dimension to our understanding of this legendary disaster.

About The Author:

Andrew Wilson is the author of Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best biography. He has written for most of Britain's national newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and the Daily Mail. He lives in London.