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Titanic stories have always fascinated me. While I am familiar with much of what happened with the Titanic before, during, and after its demise, I was not aware of the complete story regarding the Californian, and its utter and negligent failure to potentially stop the Titanic tragedy. As the story unfolded, I simply could not put this book down.
In Part One of the novel, Dyer creates a fictional journalist, John Steadman, to uncover and pursue what exactly transpired on the Californian the night the Titanic sank. He alternates Steadman’s story with the story of the crew members that were aboard the Californian that night. Second Officer Herbert Stone, a crew member on the Californian, had night watch on his ship in the early hours of April 15, 1912. As he is watching the sea he begins to see white rocket flares in the sky coming from another ship. He alerts his captain, Stanley Lord, who chooses to do nothing but continue sleeping. The next morning the crew members of the Californian learn that the Titanic in fact sank while Lord slept. While Lord attempts to cover up the Californian’s role in the tragedy, the story slowly comes out.
In Part Two of the book, Steadman follows Lord as he appears before the Senate committee and later an inquiry in Great Britain. Dyer finishes the story with a fictional article, entitled “Eight White Rockets” that Steadman wrote as a journalist following his investigations into the event. While I loved the entire book, “Eight White Rockets” was by far my favorite part; it was so beautifully written.
David Dyer writes beautifully and so descriptively that I frequently felt that I was on board the Californian and the Titanic. I really liked John Steadman and his dogged pursuit of the truth. I had a harder time with Stone (who was a real person) and his inability to stand up for himself and do the right thing. I intensely disliked Lord and felt that he should have paid more for his inaction.
I knew very little about the Californian before I read this novel. The story was absolutely captivating and so terribly tragic. It is always easy to say what might have been when looking back at events that have occurred, but in this case if two men had acted differently an entire tragedy might have been averted or at least been limited to a smaller death count. I highly recommend this novel – it is so well done.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
In Part One of the novel, Dyer creates a fictional journalist, John Steadman, to uncover and pursue what exactly transpired on the Californian the night the Titanic sank. He alternates Steadman’s story with the story of the crew members that were aboard the Californian that night. Second Officer Herbert Stone, a crew member on the Californian, had night watch on his ship in the early hours of April 15, 1912. As he is watching the sea he begins to see white rocket flares in the sky coming from another ship. He alerts his captain, Stanley Lord, who chooses to do nothing but continue sleeping. The next morning the crew members of the Californian learn that the Titanic in fact sank while Lord slept. While Lord attempts to cover up the Californian’s role in the tragedy, the story slowly comes out.
In Part Two of the book, Steadman follows Lord as he appears before the Senate committee and later an inquiry in Great Britain. Dyer finishes the story with a fictional article, entitled “Eight White Rockets” that Steadman wrote as a journalist following his investigations into the event. While I loved the entire book, “Eight White Rockets” was by far my favorite part; it was so beautifully written.
David Dyer writes beautifully and so descriptively that I frequently felt that I was on board the Californian and the Titanic. I really liked John Steadman and his dogged pursuit of the truth. I had a harder time with Stone (who was a real person) and his inability to stand up for himself and do the right thing. I intensely disliked Lord and felt that he should have paid more for his inaction.
I knew very little about the Californian before I read this novel. The story was absolutely captivating and so terribly tragic. It is always easy to say what might have been when looking back at events that have occurred, but in this case if two men had acted differently an entire tragedy might have been averted or at least been limited to a smaller death count. I highly recommend this novel – it is so well done.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.