A story that was nearly lost in the icy Atlantic
Fact and fiction are cleverly woven together in this vivid tale of a survivor from the Titanic, says Alison O'Riordan
Sunday February 03 2008
Ship of Dreams
Poolbeg Fiction, €17.99
Martina Devlin, author of Ship of Dreams, had a family connection with the Titanic, which sank shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912 when it hit an iceberg. The largest steamer in the world took with her the lives of 1,500 people. But what was to happen to those who escaped?
Martina was inspired to write this book when she stumbled across the passenger list for the Titanic. A name and address leapt out at her, that of Thomas O'Brien of Bonavie, County Limerick. Martina's grandmother Josie English, nee O'Brien, came from Bonavie. Further investigation revealed Tom O' Brien to be her grandmother's uncle. Then Martina learned how he had eloped with a local girl, Hannah Godfrey, taking passage on the Titanic. His family in Ireland only knew that he was emigrating to his sisters in Chicago. No-one knew he was bringing a wife with him. Martina humanises this story on an intensely personal level and tells his story, not as history or fact, but fiction. This extraordinarily moving story happened to a man who perished in the icy Atlantic waters just three generations removed from Martina and so Martina tells his story and the story of those he left behind, Hannah Godfrey, the woman with whom Tom O' Brien eloped and Marion O'Brien, their baby.
The Titanic story is a gripping mosaic of disaster and survival -- a roll call of what-ifs and might-have-beens told and re-told in film and book form for almost 100 years. But what Martina really touches upon is something neglected by history and that is how little the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic has figured in fiction or film. If you survived the sinking, what then?
The Titanic made widows and orphans of many but it was impossible for Martina to tell all their stories so she gives voice to the memory of Tom, Hannah and Marion. Many characters are touched upon in this book, which can lead to some confusion initially. We have Nancy Armstrong, an 18-year-old who is pregnant and widowed: what is to become of her without her husband's connections and wealth? Then there is Louis Stubel: will the secrets of his birth and destiny become common knowledge? Bridie Ryan is penniless but determined: will she experience the American Dream? These are just a few of the characters we meet in the beginning of the story, but the constant jumping from character to character left me in limbo somewhat.
All in all, this book is a gripping read inspired by the turn of events following one of the world's most horrific tragedies. Until recently, Martina had no idea that her great grand uncle lost his life on the Titanic and his new bride made it to New York carrying their child. This revelation inspired Martina to research the turn of events following on from that fateful day in April 1912 and writes a novel which I very much enjoyed, and more importantly, believed. It is full of love, romance, determination and inspiration. The tone of the book is emotional at times, and really grabbed my heart strings.
This small group of survivors meet on one of Titanic's lifeboats, saved from death by random chance and drawn from different nationalities and walks of life; however, they have only one factor in common: all have survived a tragedy that captures the world's imagination. This thread binds them together when they are rescued and taken to New York.
In her fictional riff on their story, Devlin uses every shred of information about the actual sinking -- including the haunting memories of those who survived, of the shrieking thousands thrashing in the water. But then she goes on to imagine the life of her pregnant heroine as she makes a life for herself in the new country with allies met on board -- the rigid classes of 1900s Ireland riven apart in the struggle in the New World.
- Alison O'Riordan
