Inger Sheil
Member
Trying very hard not to sound like I'm writing enthusiastic ad copy, but I'm genuinely very excited that this will soon be available - this is a book that is well worth the wait! Dave Bryceson, whose last book, The Titanic Disaster in the British National Press, has become a standard reference work on Titanic bookshelves and who has written articles and facilitated the research of others (I’m among the many who owe him a great debt), is publishing his second work: the much anticipated biography of Elizabeth Nye.
Elizabeth Nye: Titanic Survivor is the product of years’ worth of research. It’s a cracking good read — as one would expect of Dave — and beautifully illuminates the life and times of its subject. I was particularly interested in Dave’s exploration of the Salvation Army as part of the context of Elizabeth’s life — I lived in the East End near where William and Catherine Booth started the movement (today a statue in Stepney Green commemorates William) and was aware of the broad outline of its history and charity work, but Dave deftly brings it all to life and shows us how integral it was to Elizabeth’s life.
Elizabeth — and her second husband, George Darby — emerge as formidable characters. While her Titanic experiences are what will draw many readers to the subject (and there is plenty on the subject to please them), this biography illustrates the value of history viewed through another angle — not top down from senior figures in politics, art, entertainment etc, but through “ordinary” people…although it becomes apparent through her work in the Salvation Army that Elizabeth was anything but ordinary.
Publication date is confirmed for the 28th of November. Cost in the UK is £10.95 - which includes a £1 donation to the Salvation Army. Publisher is Streets Publishing.
Elizabeth Nye: Titanic Survivor is the product of years’ worth of research. It’s a cracking good read — as one would expect of Dave — and beautifully illuminates the life and times of its subject. I was particularly interested in Dave’s exploration of the Salvation Army as part of the context of Elizabeth’s life — I lived in the East End near where William and Catherine Booth started the movement (today a statue in Stepney Green commemorates William) and was aware of the broad outline of its history and charity work, but Dave deftly brings it all to life and shows us how integral it was to Elizabeth’s life.
Elizabeth — and her second husband, George Darby — emerge as formidable characters. While her Titanic experiences are what will draw many readers to the subject (and there is plenty on the subject to please them), this biography illustrates the value of history viewed through another angle — not top down from senior figures in politics, art, entertainment etc, but through “ordinary” people…although it becomes apparent through her work in the Salvation Army that Elizabeth was anything but ordinary.
Publication date is confirmed for the 28th of November. Cost in the UK is £10.95 - which includes a £1 donation to the Salvation Army. Publisher is Streets Publishing.
