When it comes to the Titanic, we are often caught up in the more famous passengers and crew: John Jacob Astor, Molly Brown, Captain Edward Smith, J. Bruce Ismay. These are all names you probably know, even if you’ve never read a book on the Titanic or watched a documentary or film.
When it comes to an oversaturated topic such as the Titanic, authors need to find something new, or something not fully explored to make an impact. This is exactly what John Boileau and Patricia Boileau Theriault do.
After all, there were 2,224 passengers and 908 crew.
This is a topic that in this Titanic enthusiast’s opinion has been ignored for far too long.
As its name suggests, The Lucky and the Lost: A Complete History of Titanic’s Children, takes on the tireless effort of tracing the lives of Titanic’s children. This is a topic that in this Titanic enthusiast’s opinion has been ignored for far too long. The book is impeccably researched, which is no small feat, given how much time has passed and how historic records can sometimes be sparse.
For the longest time, many of these children were simply names on passenger lists or, depending on the outcome, lists of the dead or survivors. Boileau and Boileau Theriault change this narrative and show who these children were beyond their name, even down to the smallest story. They become a whole story again; not just a name on a piece of paper.
However, the layout of these stories can be a bit problematic. Going into this, I expected something akin to each family or set of siblings getting a chapter. Instead, the book bounces around. For example, there are stories that are introduced by which port they left (Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown), then those are broken down by class. Those stories are then reintroduced during the sinking and then afterward (if there was an afterward).
Since most of these stories are unknown to most readers, this makes individual people/stories hard to follow. I found myself making notes so I could trace things back to other parts of the book. With all of the names included no one stood out to me, unless they were a story I already knew like survivor Eva Hart (a prominent survivor in her later years) or baby Sidney Goodwin (whose shoes are on display in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax). That’s not to say these stories aren’t important, just that there is a lot of information and a lot of names.
That being said, The Lucky and the Lost would be a worthwhile addition to any Titanic collection and is worth a read.
Retired colonel John Boileau served in the Canadian Army for thirty-seven years, including command of Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), and went on to be appointed Honorary Colonel of the Halifax Rifles (RCAC) for ten years. He is an author and media commentator who specializes in military history and has written fifteen books and more that 650 magazine and newspaper articles. Two of his books, Fastest in the World and Halifax and the Royal Canadian Navy were shortlisted for the Dartmouth Book Award for Non-Fiction. John was founding chair of the Halifax Military Heritage Preservation Society and chair of the National Council of Honorary Colonels. He is a recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal (NS), a Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia Vice-Regal Commendation and a Commander Canadian Army Commendation. He and his wife, Miriam, live in Bedford, Nova Scotia.
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing (April 9, 2024)
Paperback 9″ x 6″ | 264 pages
ISBN: 9781774712689
Katie Ingram
Katie Ingram is a freelance journalist and the author of Breaking Disaster: Newspaper Stories of the Halifax Explosion. She’s also a part-time instructor with the University of King’s College School of Journalism.
