How to Survive the Titanic, Frances Wilson
How to Survive the Titanic, Frances Wilson
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

How to Survive the Titanic
Or, The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay

Author: Frances Wilson

Narrator: Robin Sachs

Unabridged: 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/11/2011


Synopsis

On the terrifying, chaotic night of April 14, 1912, while the Titanic was sinking, Bruce J. Ismay, the ship's owner, made a decision that would save his life - and end it. Ismay boarded a lifeboat meant for women and children, and within days became 'The Most Talked-of Man in the World.' Branded a coward, he became a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Joseph Conrad's legendary eponymous character, Lord Jim. How to Survive the Titanic interweaves numerous historical accounts and sources with insights drawn from Conrad's novels. Unlike other survivors, this pivotal figure never again spoke about the Titanic. This intriguing history offers a sympathetic yet clear eyed explanation why - important lessons all of us need to survive the tragedies and choices of our own lives.

About Frances Wilson

Frances Wilson is a critic, a journalist, and the author of several works of nonfiction, including Literary Seductions; The Courtesan's Revenge; The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, which won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize; How to Survive the Titanic, winner of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography; and Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and she received a fellowship from the New York Public Library's Cullman Center in 2018. She lives in London with her daughter.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Misty on February 19, 2012

Firstly, if I wanted to read about Joseph Conrad's "Lord Jim," I'd read the novel myself rather than someone else's book report on the subject. That Frances Wilson decided to pepper her book with detailed descriptions of the Conrad novel is to the book's detriment. I found myself skipping over those......more

Goodreads review by Sarah (Head Stuck In A Book) on November 23, 2011

I gave this book 2.5/5 stars Before I start this review I have to say that I'm a huge Titanic fan, if I ever see a book I don't have I buy it even if it's the same story over and over again. I was so excited when I received this book to review it was about the Titanic and I was always interested to kn......more

Goodreads review by Rhiannon on August 05, 2012

Ever have a really bad day where, say, you call someone names at work and maybe back into someones car on the way out of the grocery parking lot and then, I don't know, cut a thumb off while cooking dinner? Well next time this happens you can take comfort in the thought that it could have been much......more

Goodreads review by Chad on September 04, 2012

The “Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay” showed another side to the Titanic story that most people today probably never give much thought. This story is more about what is going on when the Carpathia arrives in New York and what transpires thereafter than just the sinking of the Titanic. Frances Wilson goes......more

Goodreads review by Mike on July 16, 2023

Since the headline-making implosion of the Titan submersible last month while diving down to the world's most famous shipwreck, I've been indulging my intermittent but ever-present fascination with all things Titanic, a fascination that's endured since childhood. As part of this, I raided my bookshe......more