Titanic: Voices From the Disaster

By: Deborah Hopkinson

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Peter Altschuler, Various

EARLY MORNING ON APRIL 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic, on her glorious maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Thus the ship declared to be unsinkable was lost in one of the most infamous tragedies in history. Even now, a century later, the events surrounding the Titanic continue to haunt and intrigue us.

Critically acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson weaves together the voices of Titanic survivors and witnesses to the disaster to bring the horrors of that terrible night to life. There’s nine-year-old Frankie Goldsmith; Violet Jessop, a young stewardess; Jack Thayer, an American high school senior; Colonel Archibald Gracie, a well-to-do gentleman; William Murdoch, a brave seaman; Charlotte Collyer, a young mother on her way to start a new life; and many others. Their recollections are filled with heart-stopping action, devastating drama, and fascinating historical details.

The Titanic disaster came alive.

I loved the different voices. This really made the Titanic disaster come alive for my students.

one of the best books

I read this years ago and decided to listen to the audiobook this time.
I did have to use more than normal speed.
Even when I read the book, it was very slow paced.
so I do recommend the audiobook.

Good information and narrative

The book by itself is very good, has the basics covered and the information you can extract is very good. The narrator does a good job, but I wish they could have added background noises. I enjoyed the book, I would recommend for any lover of titanic.

Awesome I would recommend to everyone

I would recommend this book to people who are just getting interested in this type of stuff

You’ll Feel Like You Were There

I have been a “Titanic Buff” for almost 60 years. I own almost every book on the subject, including all of the survivors’ published accounts. When I received a $10 coupon for a free Audible book, I chose this one, purely because of the price, and with low expectations. Boy, was I pleasantly wrong.

What makes this recording special is its selection of survivor accounts to bring the reader onboard for the journey, the sinking, and the rescue. In many ways, it reminds me of “The Only Plane in the Sky,“ the account of 9/11 told through eyewitness accounts. The original survivor accounts, written in the prose of 1912, can be pretty dry reading. What the author has done here, and what the narrator has taken to another level, is to select excerpts from various survivor, accounts, and weave them together to bring you onboard. It tells the complete timeline of Titanic’s journey into history.

It is a marvelous job of editing and storytelling. No matter how many books or survivor accounts you have read about RMS Titanic, this concise retelling is worth your time, and much more than the nine dollar free coupon it cost me. Bravo.