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Titanic: The Long Night is a 1998 romance novel by Diane Hoh. It is an entirely fictional story set aboard the Titanic.
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| Author | Diane Hoh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Romance novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
Publication date | 1999 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 371 pp |
| ISBN | 0-590-33123-X |
| OCLC | 38531222 |
| Followed by | Remembering the Titanic |
The plot centers on two narratives of fictional characters aboard the Titanic. The first is the story of Elizabeth Farr. Elizabeth boards the Titanic with her parents setting out to reach New York City to be engaged to Alan Reed, a man she does not wish to marry. While on the ship, she has frequent discussions with her parents about wanted to go to college and not wanting to marry Alan, but they refuse to let her make her own decisions. While on the ship, she meets Maxwell Whittaker, the son of the wealthy Whittaker family, and falls in love with him against her parents' will.
The plot also deals with the story of Kathleen Hanrahan, a girl who boards the ship in Queenstown, Ireland. She falls in love with a man named Patrick "Paddy" Kelleher. She is also forced to care for two young children, Kevin and Bridey, whose caretaker fails to pay attention to them.
On the night, the Titanic crashes into the iceberg, Elizabeth forgets all of her troubles when she realizes that she has to leave Max and her father behind on the ship while it sinks. She gets in lifeboat number six with her mother, Nola.
Meanwhile, Katie wakes up in her third-class cabin all by herself. She finds Paddy, and he takes her, Kevin, and Bridey up to the boat deck, where they find Paddy's brother Brian. Brian refuses to get in a lifeboat and instead opts to stay behind, encouraging other people to get in boats before it is too late. Katie and Paddy get into the lifeboat while Brian stays behind.
Max and Elizabeth's father, still on the ship, retire to the gymnasium until Max goes outside. The ship suddenly starts to plunge into the water, and Max is washed off, presumably dead.
While Elizabeth, Nola, Katie, Paddy, and the rest of the people in the lifeboats watch, the RMS Titanic goes underwater with more than 1,500 people in it. After floating all night, the boats are picked up by the RMS Carpathia. While on the ship, Elizabeth finds Max in the hospital room. However, Katie and Paddy are less fortunate and have to face the fact that Brian is dead.
When they get to New York, Elizabeth attends Vassar College and marries Max, while Paddy becomes a writer and marries Katie.
Characters
editAs with the 1997 film, Hoh's novel focuses on the fictitious passengers aboard the Titanic.
The following is a list of Hoh's characters:
- Elizabeth Farr (First-class passenger, survives)
- Martin Farr (First-class passenger, Elizabeth's father, dies)
- Nola Farr (First-class passenger, Elizabeth's mother, survives)
- Maxwell Whittaker (First-class passenger, survives)
- Lily (First-class passenger, survives)
- Kathleen Hanrahan (Third-class passenger, survives)
- Patrick Kelleher (Third-class passenger, survives)
- Brian Kelleher (Third-class passenger, dies)
- Marta (Third-class passenger, survives)
- Eileen (Third-class passenger, survives)
- Kevin (Third-class passenger, survives)
- Bridey (Third-class passenger, survives)
- Arthur Beauchamps (First-class passenger, dies)
Remembering the Titanic
edit| Author | Diane Hoh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Romance novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
Publication date | 1998 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 371 pp |
| ISBN | 0-590-87585-X |
| Preceded by | Titanic: The Long Night |
Titanic: The Long Night was followed by a sequel, Remembering the Titanic, which was published later that same year and was also written by Diane Hoh. The book focuses on the lives of Elizabeth, Max, Katie, and Paddy after the sinking. It has been one year since that fateful night on the Titanic. For the survivors, life is a constant struggle with grief and shock, as well as thoughts of those who didn't survive. Though he refuses to speak about the terrible night on the dark sea, Katie Hanrahan thinks Patrick "Paddy" Kelleher is happy. But Paddy can't stop thinking about what more he could've done to save his brother Brian's life. Max has embraced life as an artist, but he's losing his patience with Elizabeth, who is having trouble finding her independence.