The sorrows that couldn’t be drowned with the Titanic

When Hazel Gaynor heard the story of 14 Co Mayo villagers who left Ireland on the Titanic, she knew she had to learn more about them

THREE years ago, I was an aspiring writer, struggling to get published, struggling to write amid the demands of family life. Then, I had an idea — a novel about Titanic, the ‘unsinkable’ passenger liner that sank on April 15, 1912.

Writing about a well-known, emotionally charged subject was daunting. I would have to research the ship, and the era. But I wanted to write about Titanic’s passengers. Who were these people? What happened to the survivors in the lifeboats? What happened when they reached New York? How did friends and families hear about the disaster? I wanted to write about the less well-known, less ‘Hollywood’ aspects of the disaster.