I know the book threads are coming thick and fast but I just finished such a beauty. 1955’s “A night to remember” by Walter Lord. It unfolds the events of the titanic as though you are right there, from the moment the iceberg scrapes against the ship, leaving ice on deck
To the moment the last person hears the news&through so much humanity, bravery and fear in between. My heart was in my mouth reading it even though we know what happens. Sometimes it also made me laugh such as when Thayer saw a fellow passenger swaying across deck,drunk on gin&
thought “I wont see him again if I survive” and then it turned out the drunk man not only survived but was the first other survivor Thayer saw after it was all over. Mostly though it was just so incredibly moving. Wives refusing to leave husbands, kindnesses done under chaos
And W.T Stead there in the midst of it all. Mr.Stead was the man who helped expose the scale of child prostitution in london, and along with women like Josephine Butler, helped raise the age of consent in England. I knew he died on the titanic through Fawcett’s book
Which is really why I picked this one up. For most of the time the ship was sinking, he was reading quietly in the first class smoking room. Not because he didn’t know of the danger, but because he did and that was his response. I hope they have named libraries after that man!
What people chose to pack on their person when they knew they were in trouble was strangely touching, too. The man who left his fortune in a tin box but chose an orange and a lucky pin, the woman who deserted her £11000 pounds of jewellery but made a point of taking her muff
Or the chap who gallantly tried to stuff his clothes with books. The gallant band are there,of course,too,playing ragtime until the last minute when they switch to Autumn. I’d not heard the piece before but it’s stunning. I intend to buy the piano sheet music so I can learn it.
I listened to it as I read.
The aftermath of the sinking is riveting. The wider politics of class&how it affected who lived,as well as the courage of the attempt to rescue some in the sea by one lifeboat,the complete refusal to try by others&the great efforts of the Carpathia
The aftermath of the sinking is riveting. The wider politics of class&how it affected who lived,as well as the courage of the attempt to rescue some in the sea by one lifeboat,the complete refusal to try by others&the great efforts of the Carpathia
It is such a beautiful,tenderly written&frankly unforgettable book.
I’m full of feelings now&I think this is how history writing always ought to be done
In ways that make you almost feel like you have lived it
I’m only sorry to have reached the last page
I’m full of feelings now&I think this is how history writing always ought to be done
In ways that make you almost feel like you have lived it
I’m only sorry to have reached the last page
• • •
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