MY FRIEND AND AGENT, BRETTNE Bloom, has been a tireless champion of this project since we first discussed it in 2015. It would not have been possible without her, nor my wonderful editors, Trish Todd and Arabella Pike, who have my sincere gratitude, as does everyone who worked on The Ship of Dreams in New York and London.
My thanks to the staff at Claridge’s Hotel, London; the Belfast Titanic Society; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the Hotel Savoy, Florence; the Linen Hall Library, Belfast; the New Jersey State Archives; the Mariners’ Museum and Park, Newport News, Virginia; the McClay Library, Belfast; the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland; the Queen Mary Hotel, Long Beach, California; the Straus Historical Society; the Varsity Hotel, Cambridge; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Titanic Hotel, Belfast; and the Yale Daily News.
The Titanic, her victims, and her sister ships have inspired a rich world of interest and research from which I have benefited and been inspired. Colleagues, professionals, and academics who graciously lent their time were Joan Adler, executive director of the Straus Historical Society; Gavin Bell; Mark Chirnside; Fiona Fisher; Charles A. Haas, president of the Titanic International Society; Iain Hunt; Gregg Jasper; Daniel Klistorner; the Honorable Alexander Leslie, Fiona Leslie, and the Clan Leslie Charitable Trust; Don Lynch; Tom Lynskey; Samantha McCombe; John McDonald; Dr. Aidan McMichael, chairman of the Belfast Titanic Society; Rich Turnwald; Jeanne Willoz-Egnor; and Angela Young. Adrienne Dillard, my first reader, is an indefatigable Titanic enthusiast and equally well informed. The same is true of Randy Bryan Bigham and Mike Poirier, whose friendship and time were provided in equal measure as we discussed the Titanic and theories surrounding her into the small hours. The world is finer for the likes of all three.
It was from my family that I first heard stories of the Titanic, and although the great-grandparents who saw and remembered the ship have passed, my parents, my grandparents Iris and Richard, my sisters, my great-uncle Ivan, and my cousin June have all helped with queries, memories, and encouragement. My love and thanks to them and to friends who helped in different ways along the road to this book’s completion—Olivia, Jessika, and Jonathan Auerbach; Kelly and Evan Branfman; Cailum Carragher; Charles C. W. Cooke; Mimi Cossitt; Scott De Buitléir; Jake Douglas; Julian, Lord Fellowes; Mary Flanigan; Claire Handley; Theodore Harvey; Rafe Heydel-Mankoo; Debra Hill; Sarah Houghton; Susan Hunnisett; Laura and Tom Hunniwood, as always; Janice and the Reverend James Hyndman; Dan Kelly; Rebecca Lenaghan; Dr. Hannah and Dr. David McCormick; Ashley Montgomery; Olivia Moore; Scott Naismith, the current headmaster of Methodist College, Belfast, who fielded questions about the school’s Edwardian-era uniform colors and crests; Ryan Nees and Eric Spies; Coco, Deonne, Jeff, and Mary Tate Pannell—and Deonne’s impromptu Book Club in Columbia, Tennessee, who were the first to be kind enough to listen to a section of this book read aloud and then took me out for lashings of the best of Southern hospitality afterwards—David Paulin; Patrick Quinn; Will Reid; Kerry Rogan; Lady Susie Sainsbury; Davi Santos; Antonia Sebag-Montefiore; Alexa Reid Smith; David Storrs; and Paul Storrs. Lastly to Emerald Fennell, who was the first to suggest I write a book about the Titanic, provided it contained a character called Jack.
Belfast
Christmas 2018