On April 14, 1912 at 11:40 p.m. the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. It was her maiden voyage. Just under three hours later - at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912 - the last visible section of the Titanic slipped beneath the waves. More than 1,500 souls perished, with just over 700 passengers surviving what is perhaps the most well-known maritime disaster of the early twentieth-century. This book seeks to separate fiction from fact, reporting on what actually happened.

I have to say that I've always been interested in the sinking of the Titanic. And yes, I've seen the 1997 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett twice. As I read this book, I was repeatedly struck by the number of personal histories that were cut short, but that I wanted to know more about.

I suppose that the story of the two children who became known as the 'Titanic Orphans' is already known to history buffs, and I knew a little about their story myself, but it was very interesting for me to discover what happened to both the brothers later on in their lives. I give this book an A! and look forward to reading more from Marc Shapiro in the future. ( )