Call of the Titanic by Lindsay Galvin and Gordy Wright

I think it is fair to say that Lindsay Galvin is fast gaining a strong reputation for her historical writing; in which she sheds new light on people and events from the past.  Her book “Darwin’s Dragons” was particularly memorable and emotional, so I must admit to having high expectations of this new work.

Most people probably think that they know the story of the Titanic, whether it is from the film of the same name, or from one of the many documentary programmes that have been televised over the years.  Over the years I have been lucky enough to visit exhibitions about the ship, but of course the new Museum in Belfast really brings home the size and quality of the vessel.  All of this gives us a very objective view of the ship and the catastrophe, but what Lindsay Galvin does is bring us to the heart and soul of the story.

The story is told from two differing viewpoints and also following different time lines.  On one hand, we have a fictionalised account of the testimony of Sid Daniels, a 14 year old steward (although 18 years old in real life), who was the last member of the crew to be saved by the Carpathia. His part of the story is shown as if written as testimony on a manual typewriter  and it is fascinating to have this real sense that we are reading the original words.  What strikes me as surprising is the dates given to the government enquiry, it is only two weeks after the actual tragedy and I can’t imagine that would happen in our modern age.  What also surprised me was the living conditions for the third class passengers that Sid was looking after.  There is a perception that conditions for those lower down the ship were really atrocious, but what comes across here is that they were probably better off than they would have been back in their original homelands.

The other half of the story follows the ‘adventures of young Clara Scott (aged 12 years) who is accidentally locked in a trunk at the family farm and ends up on the Carpathia, where her cousin is the wireless operator Harold Cottam.  When she finally escapes from the trunk, she is in the ship’s hold and has a gigantic Newfoundland dog keeping her company.  What follows makes for an exciting adventure in its own right, but it is the sequence of events  which make this such a chilling and yet unstoppable read.  However the two stories eventually converge and the heroism shown that night becomes all too clear.

The author has made Clara the absolute centre of the story, with Sid and Rigel (the dog) coming in as a  close joint second.  At the beginning I was not sure what I felt about this young girl, as she is very strong minded and not prone to listening to others.  However, this is shown to be  beneficial, with her feisty and determined attitude overcoming the often bigoted attitudes of some of the crew and passengers.  Lindsay Galvin has managed to paint a vivid and chilling scenario for one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.  It is one of those books that you just can’t stop reading, so start reading it early in the day!  As readers, we get a real sense of the research that has gone into the book and I found myself going off to check some details when I was reading.  Perhaps the most poignant aspect of this story is the way that the author is able to convey the reality of the ordinary people who were caught up in the events.  When major catastrophes take place we often forget about the ordinary people whose lives are devastated by what happens, but in this story the author has managed to bring these often unknown characters into the light.

This is one of those books where I feel that I am running out of superlatives, so it is probably best that I just finish by saying that everyone should read this book and it should find a home in every school and library.  This definitely gets 5 stars and probably deserves more.

 

The author Lindsay Galvin

“Lindsay was lucky enough to be raised in a house of stories, music, and love of the sea. She left part of her heart underwater after living and working in Thailand where she spent hundreds of blissful hours scuba diving. Forced now to surface for breath, she lives in sight of the chillier Sussex sea with her husband and two sons. When she is not writing, she can be found reading, running or practicing yoga. She has a degree in English Language and Literature, is fascinated by psychology and the natural world, and teaches Science. Lindsay hadn’t written creatively since childhood until the idea for her debut novel The Secret Deep splashed into her mind, and she now she’s hooked.”

Thank you to the Chicken House website for this biographical information.

The Butterfly Club: The Ship of Doom by M A Bennett

Welbeck Publishing, 9781801300049

Like many millions of people around the world, I have been a fan of time travel stories since I was a child.  Tales such as “Tom’s Midnight Garden” by Phillipa Pearce”, “The Ghosts” by Antonia Barber” and  “The Gauntlet” by Ronald Welch” introduced my generation to the possibilities of movement in time.  This sub-genre has become increasingly popular in the last generation or so and a basic search on websites such as Waterstones and Amazon will give you a plethora of titles for a wide range of age groups.  However there is one element that most of these books share, namely that the characters tend to find themselves going backwards in time and only a few authors have taken the heroes forward into an unknown future.  This new series manages to find a compromise with this situation, so read on, to find out how it was done.

The Butterfly Club is the title of the series and it gets its name from a premise that  states “if a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, then there will be a much larger event happening on the other side of the world”  Basically, it is a case of “Cause and Effect” and although I can’t think of many titles that use this construct, a brilliant example of its use is “Mortal Chaos” by Matt Dickinson.  M A Bennett has used this idea to bring together a group of adults, many of them well-known, who are part of a secret organization that has managed to ‘discover’ the secret of time travel.  The young people at the centre of the events find themselves there because of their family links to the club.  Luna is living with her aunt, due to the ‘disappearance’ of her father; Konstantin is the son of a German member of the group, and Aidan is the son of an Irish engineer.  Whilst the story starts in 1894, the children are asked to travel forward to 1912, in order to ‘steal’ information about a new discovery called a “wireless radio” by Guglielmo Marconi.  they arrive at Southampton and manage to stow away  (with the time machine) on board a very fine vessel, one of the White Star Line ships.  By this point most of the readers will be getting a real sense of trepidation, which is only confirmed as the trio discover the name of their vessel, it is RMS Titanic!

What follows is a mix of an exciting adventure story as the intrepid children try to find the wireless, together with a traumatic build up to the events that befell the ship, crew and passengers.  The author uses the time machine to allow the children to re-live the day prior to the iceberg, so that they can try and prevent some of the small events, which then ended up having a profound impact on what happened.  On each occasion their attempts seem to be thwarted by a sinister figure, with a watch face in place of one eye; but who is he and what is his motivation in wanting the ship to meet its doom?

This is a fabulous read, with some fascinating sub-plots that will resonate with many readers.  The fact that they can only travel between their own time and 1969, means that they are limited in where they can visit.  However the additional premise, that the purpose of the club is to find more modern technologies and bring them to the 19th century, means that there is plenty of opportunity for adventure and even danger.  What we do discover is that each of the young people has a secret and as they gradually become friends they are able to share these secrets with the others.  It will be fascinating to see how these issues play out in the coming stories, but what I can say is that the friendships are only strengthened as the young people learn to support each other.

This is a stunning start to a new series and I cannot wait for the next title in the series “The Mummy’s Curse”; as a fan of Ancient Egypt since childhood this is going to be right up my street.  I am willing to bet that a certain pharaoh might be at the centre of this story, especially as 2022 celebrates the centenary of his tomb being discovered.  Thank you to Welbeck for allowing me to include this excerpt from the book, in order to further whet your appetite.

The Ship of Doom (The Butterfly Club series) by M.A. Bennett (£6.99, Welbeck Children’s) available now.

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