11. Maggie and the other survivors were in their lifeboat for eight hours before they were picked up, and they were then on board Carpathia for several days. Had you considered the experience of the survivors before reading this book? Discuss the extent of their ordeal after getting safely off Titanic.
12. Maggie discovers twenty-five dollars pinned to her clothing as compensation from the White Star Line and recalls signing a disclaimer for the company. This was actually recorded as happening to one of the survivors, Annie Kate Kelly. What is your reaction when reading this? Are you surprised that the shipping company would take advantage of survivors in that way?
13. Families and friends of passengers on Titanic were left confused and searching for answers about the fate of their loved ones, with early press reports stating that everyone had survived and later reports correctly reporting huge losses of life. Why do you think there was so much delay and confusion in confirming the facts and issuing survivor lists? Had you considered this aspect of the tragedy before reading this book?
14. Many Titanic survivors were reluctant to talk about their experiences. Are you surprised by Maggie’s reluctance to talk about Titanic with her own family? What comments do you have about Maggie’s experience of survivor guilt?
15. There have been many other shipping tragedies since Titanic. Cunard’s passenger liner RMS Lusitania (traveling from New York to Liverpool) sank off the coast of Ireland in 1915 when the liner was struck by a torpedo fired from a German submarine. There were 1,198 civilian fatalities in the event. In the light of many tragedies with great loss of life since 1912, why do you think people continue to be so fascinated by Titanic a hundred years later?
16. Australian businessman Clive Palmer is starting construction on a replica of Titanic—Titanic II—which is scheduled to re-create Titanic’s maiden voyage in 2016. There have been very mixed reactions to this project among relatives and descendants of Titanic’s passengers and Titanic enthusiasts. What are your thoughts on it?
CREDITS
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Cover photographs: woman © by Lyn Randle/Trevillion Images; RMS Titanic © by Private Collection/Prismatic Pictures/The Bridgeman Art Library
COPYRIGHT
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME. Copyright © 2014 by Hazel Gaynor. 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.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-231686-8
EPub Edition May 2014 ISBN 9780062316875
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Hazel Gaynor, The Girl Who Came Home
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