Women and Children First: Bravery, love and fate: the untold story of the doomed Titanic
Praise for Gill Paul: ‘A cleverly crafted novel and an enthralling story… A triumph.’ DINAH JEFFERIES ‘Gripping, romantic and evocative of its time.’ LULU TAYLOR It is 1912. Against all odds, the Titanic is sinking.As desperate hands emerge from the icy water, a few lucky row boats float in the darkness. On the boats are four survivors.Reg, a handsome young steward working in the first-class dining room; Annie, an Irishwoman travelling to America with her children; Juliet, a titled English lady who is pregnant and unmarried, and George, a troubled American millionaire.In the wake of the tragedy, each of these people must try to rebuild their lives.But how can life ever be the same again when you’ve heard over a thousand people dying in the water around you?Haunting, emotional and beautifully written, Women and Children First breathes fresh life into the most famous disaster of the 20th century. A gripping read from the bestselling author of The Secret Wife.As each of them tries to cope with the aftershock of the fatal night, they must begin to rebuild their lives. But how can life ever be the same again when you’ve heard over a thousand people dying in the water around you?
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Women and Children First
They survived the Titanic, but their lives were changed forever…
Gill Paul
Copyright
The facts surrounding the sinking of the Titanic are portrayed accurately in this novel, but otherwise it is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
AVON
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
A Paperback Original 2012
Gill Paul asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST. Copyright © Gill Paul 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ISBN: 9781847563255
EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780007453306
Version: 2018-06-05
Dedication
For Ana, Rhuaridh, Barnaby, Harvey and Florence
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Reg’s hands were shaking so hard he couldn’t hold the…
PART ONE
Chapter One
It was one in the morning and first-class victualling steward…
Chapter Two
Lady Juliette Mason-Parker knelt on the bathroom floor, acid scorching…
Chapter Three
Annie McGeown sat on the edge of a bunk and…
Chapter Four
Reg lay awake mulling over what he’d seen on the…
Chapter Five
Next morning at breakfast, Reg couldn’t meet Mrs Grayling’s eye,…
Chapter Six
After breakfast Margaret Grayling found a deckchair on the promenade…
Chapter Seven
At luncheon, first-class passengers could choose from a set menu…
Chapter Eight
The stewards were free from the end of lunch service,…
Chapter Nine
By dinner time on Saturday evening, Juliette was restless in…
Chapter Ten
Most tables in the first-class dining saloon seated eight people.
Chapter Eleven
After breakfast on Sunday morning, Annie McGeown went with her…
Chapter Twelve
As passengers began arriving for breakfast on Sunday morning, Reg…
Chapter Thirteen
John was worried about Reg. He seemed distracted on this…
Chapter Fourteen
‘I hope there isn’t some kind of illness being passed…
Chapter Fifteen
The engines had stopped almost immediately, and the silence that…
Chapter Sixteen
Annie McGeown was lying in her bunk unable to get…
Chapter Seventeen
As Reg walked along B Deck, passengers were beginning to…
Chapter Eighteen
When she woke, for a few seconds Juliette couldn’t remember…
Chapter Nineteen
‘Annie? It’s Eileen.’ The words were accompanied by urgent knocking.
Chapter Twenty
Reg walked over to the port side of the boat…
Chapter Twenty-One
A surge of third-class passengers arrived on the boat deck,…
Chapter Twenty-Two
The water came faster than Reg had expected and he…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Annie sat huddled on a bench in Lifeboat 13, so…
Chapter Twenty-Four
As she watched the Titanic sliding beneath the water, Juliette’s…
Chapter Twenty-Five
Reg was shivering convulsively and if it hadn’t been for…
Chapter Twenty-Six
‘Was that a shooting star?’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Throughout the night, Annie sat still and silent, her chest…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
In the doctor’s consulting room, Reg was stripped of his…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Annie stood on deck watching until the last lifeboat had…
Chapter Thirty
Juliette found that she couldn’t stop crying. It was humiliating…
Chapter Thirty-One
Reg was badly shaken by his conversation with Annie. He…
Chapter Thirty-Two
The first-and second-class areas on the Carpathia were much smaller…
Chapter Thirty-Three
When Reg opened his eyes, he was momentarily confused to…
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mildred persuaded Annie to share her first-class suite, which had…
Chapter Thirty-Five
Reg returned to the doctor’s surgery to have the bloodied…
PART TWO
Chapter Thirty-Six
Reg was wakened by a man’s voice, an American. ‘If…
Chapter Thirty-Seven
On arrival at New York’s Pier 54, Robert Graham led…
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Reg poured his heart out in the letter to John’s…
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The apartment that Seamus had found for Annie and his…
Chapter Forty
When Juliette told her mother that Robert wanted to take…
Chapter Forty-One
On Sundays, when Reg wasn’t working, he explored the city…
Chapter Forty-Two
‘My goodness! What brings you here?’ Mr Grayling looked startled…
Chapter Forty-Three
A date was set for Juliette and her mother to…
Chapter Forty-Four
Annie found life in Kingsbridge a struggle. The practicalities were…
Chapter Forty-Five
The night following Mr Grayling’s offer of employment, Reg lay…
Chapter Forty-Six
‘It appears to be about two carats.’ Lady Mason-Parker eyed…
Chapter Forty-Seven
