Why a Booktrail?
1912: A woman loses her family on the Titanic but then is given a second chance at hope. If she takes it the consequences of it will ricochet throughout time and affect others. Should she take it?
The Captain’s Daughter
What you need to know before your trail
April 14th 1912
May Smith is travelling with her husband and baby girl Ellen, leaving behind Bolton for the land of opportunity: the United States. Her family are lost to the waters so when Captain Smith hands a baby to her in the lifeboat, she cannot believe she’s found her daughter. But on dry land, she takes a closer look at her new charge…
Celeste, also in the lifeboat that night, is a rich american who wishes to escape her bully husband. She’s happy that her new friend has found her daughter and the two forge a friendship that will last and enrich them both.
Because in a moment, life can change beyond anything you could imagine.
Someone is waiting for the ship to dock in New York, someone who believes that The Titanic holds many secrets yet to divulge.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
The Titanic hit the iceberg on the evening of April 14th and sank in the early hours of April 15th. With it sank the hopes and dreams of all those on board. This is the story of three families from England, Italy and America whose lives were changed for ever.
May Smith – Lichfield
Lives in Bolton Lancashire with her husband and baby and are on their way to New York and a new life when disaster strikes. This small and poor northern cotton town is her whole life so even their arrival in London before travelling to Southampton is difficult. Her return to England takes her further – to Lichfield – in her search to protect her new charge.
Celeste Parks – New York
Lives in New York with a bully for a husband who doesn’t even come to the docks to meet her. She is returning home from her mother’s funeral in Lichfield England. Her home and salvation is the Three Ladies of the Vale – the spires of the cathedral and her father is the canon there. Desperately trying to escape New York, she returns to England and to a life she never expected…
How she wished she was back in Lichfield at cherry blossom timewalking Roddy around Minster Pool, taking tea on the marketplace”
Angelo – New York
An Italian immigrant living in the Mulberry district of New York. “Noisy, dusty, full of their compatriots trying to scratch a living” Lost and alone he finds a clue that his family may have survived and so he refuses to give up his search for them. His story takes us to the rolling hills of Tuscany Italy and a story built on love and hope.
Historical fact
Many of the characters in the book and facts about the ship itself are real.
Captain Smith has often been blamed for the sinking but this puts a new spin on his role in that night. His daughters actually appear the story as do his grandchildren providing a new angle to historical facts already known.
There is a statue of Captain Smith in Beacon Gardens in Lichfield and can be seen for real. There is also a memorial to the victims of the ship in Halifax Nova Scotia in the Fairview lawn cemetery.
Booktrailer Review
Clare:
This is a really insightful and fascinating read mixing fact and fiction into a tale of what could have happened following the sinking of the Titanic. Three families so far apart and unknown to one another who are forces together one night in the cold Atlantic air.
The personal stories are grim and there is little hope but the amazing spirit of these people push them on and the way their fates intertwined was amazing to read about. The fact that the sinking was dealt with early on left the focus on the families and that small baby who Captain Smith rescued that night
Very atmospheric and fascinating – the streets of Lichfield are evoked with every cobble stone and awe of the cathedral. May and Celeste’s fate intertwined there. A small town with such a big history I knew little about.
A very clever interweaving plot and a new fresh approach to the Titanic story. This is so much more.
Where Next?
