Rubery Book Award 2012 2nd Prize Winner

This is a very timely book, produced in a professional manner. It takes the familiar account of the last voyage of the Titanic and examines it from a fresh perspective. It is told by the master of the vessel, Captain Edward Smith. The writer, who clearly has much specialist knowledge of the manner in which passenger ships are run, has seen the original log books of the master before the last tragic voyage, and shows a clear-sighted recognition of how these facts might have affected his decisions. The character of the master is strong and believable and the reader’s sympathies are constantly with him, as the novel takes us through his earlier life in a series of well-handled flashbacks. A small criticism is the claim on the front cover that it is a ghost story. [ref: original paperback edition: ‘The Master’s Tale – a Titanic ghost story’]

Although there are some references to a ghost on the ship, this seems a small and insignificant part of a powerful, strong story, and the claim is slightly misleading.