The Second Mrs. Astor(97)
Only exhaling at the very, very end, when I know I’ll see him smiling at me once more.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book began with a phone call. My wonderful agent, Annelise Robey, wanted to know if I’d be willing to pitch a story about Titanic to Kensington Publishing. I said, “Yes!” and quickly settled upon Madeleine Astor as my protagonist, a 1912 version of a young Princess Diana if there ever was one. I thought to myself, “This’ll be easy!” Then I set about researching.
And researching.
And researching.
There is a lot of information out in the wilds regarding Titanic, its passengers and crew, and not all of it is credible, to put it mildly. There was far less information about Madeleine herself. For the most part, I was able to trace the footprints of her life through archived newspaper articles, nearly all of them period. The New York Times was a particularly valuable resource in this regard, as it was essentially her hometown paper. Here are some others, in no particular order:
For a closer look at the first-class world of the passengers aboard Titanic, try Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage by Hugh Brewster.
Encyclopedia Titanica (encyclopedia-titanica.org) is an exhaustively detailed, fascinating site dedicated to all facts Titanic. Fair warning: it’s very easy to lose hours and hours there.
Another interesting site is the Titanic Inquiry Project (titanicinquiry.org), where you can read actual transcripts of both the American and the British Titanic inquiries, including verbatim survivors’ testimonies.
In 1926, Vincent Astor decided to auction off practically everything in the Fifth Avenue chateau (the mansion itself was subsequently demolished). The Internet Archive (archive.org/details/paintingsfurnish00amer) has a searchable file of the auction catalog, if you’d like to get a peek at how the really, really rich decorated.
Interested in the fashion of the era? Take a look at Titanic Style, by Grace Evans.
Research is the blood and bones of The Second Mrs. Astor, but the heart of it is the living, breathing people who helped me out, over and over. I want to thank Annelise and everyone at the Jane Rotrosen Agency for their many years of encouragement and support.
And I am lucky enough to have the hardworking and talented Wendy McCurdy—who was actually my very first editor for my very first book, so long ago!—return as my editor once more.
My friend Bev Allen gave me a great big happy surprise when she directed me to the Missouri Historical Society’s Frances Hurd Stadler Titanic Collection. Bev’s first job out of grad school had her working with Frances, the daughter of Carlos and Katherine Hurd. It’s through Bev that I know someone who knew someone who knew someone who was aboard the Carpathia with Madeleine!
And, of course, I must acknowledge all the love and strength provided by my incredible husband Sean: my sounding board, my steady anchor, my true north.