Author’s Further Note
The wonderful thing about writing a book about such an infamous historical event as the sinking of the Titanic is the bottomless well of information available. In the wake of the disaster, inquisitions were held. Scientists and engineers endeavored to understand what had gone wrong, so as to prevent future tragedies. Countries developed regulations. And newspapers reported on the events for years. In addition, people with curious minds did their own investigations, trying to understand exactly what had happened. Many are still investigating to this day. (There’s a highly informative discussion board at encyclopedia-titanica.org for anyone with questions about the Titanic.) Some things we will never know. Some questions will be answered in time.
The challenge of writing historical fiction lies in creating a fictional story within the confines of the historical record without doing too much damage in the process. Where I felt it was important, I used the names of actual passengers for my characters, mostly to invite the reader to discover their lives. Of course, some of the more well-known citizenry had to remain: Captain Smith, J. Bruce Ismay, the Duff-Gordons. The Titanic would just not be the Titanic without them. Additionally, Albert Ankeny Stewart was a real man with business interests in the Ringling Brothers Circus, a man named Crawford was his bedroom valet, and Bertha Chambers was a first-class passenger staying on E-Deck. Exploring these lesser-known characters was a way to honor their memories.
More often than not, I created entirely new characters to give me the flexibility to tell the story. May you enjoy each and every one of them (perhaps with the exception of Skeleton), but most importantly, may Luck of the Titanic provoke a discussion about which of these characters society considers “worthy” and which it does not.
Acknowledgments
I get motion sickness in elevators. For the longest time, I thought the poop deck was so-called because that was where the seagulls did their business. So I guess you could say I never thought I’d write a book that takes place on the sea, much less aboard the infamous Titanic. And I’m grateful to all the people who supported me while I wrote the thing I never thought I’d write.
Just as it takes a crew with many hands doing many different things to steer a ship, so it took a bucketful of amazing talents to see this story off. Thank you to my agent, Kristin Nelson, and her entire team at Nelson Literary Agency, especially Angie Hodapp, for steering my early drafts toward the right currents; my editor, Stephanie Pitts, and editorial assistant Matthew Phipps for working with me up in the bridge, providing your insightful advice, and helping bring this story to life; my publisher, Jen Klonsky, for your stewardship; and all the amazing folks at G. P. Putnam’s Sons for pulling your oars with me.
Thank you as well to my friends and readers: the wondrous Stephanie Garber for rowing my lifeboat with me; Jeanne Schriel for your clear-eyed critique and for thinking so deeply about this story and making me think deeply, too; Ida Olson for your incredible structural and character insights; Kelly Loy Gilbert for helping me grapple with the harder stuff, which you’re so good at; Abigail Hing Wen for your smart reading and constant enthusiasm for my work; Kip Wilson and Megan Bannen for your helping me bring it home. I. W. Gregorio, Parker Peevyhouse, Mónica Bustamante Wagner, Bijal Vakil, Adlai Coronel, Angela Hum, Chenyi Lum, Karen Ng, Susan Repo, Yuki Romero, Maureen Medeiros, Kristen Good, you are all first class.
Special thanks to Sherri L. Smith and Hedgebrook, where I was lucky to spend a transformative week thinking about this particular story, aided by their librarian Evie Lindbloom. Thank you also to Bruce Beveridge, Steve Hall, Daniel Klistorner, Scott Andrews, and Art Braunschweiger for your aggressive research for Titanic the Ship Magnificent, without which I would be adrift.
Last, thanks to my home crew: Laura Ly, Alyssa Cheng, Carl and Evelyn Leong, words cannot describe how profoundly I and my work benefit from your presence in my life; Dolores and Wai Lee, for your patient and wise instruction on our cultural heritage; Avalon, my wise-cracking and intrepid co-explorer in London for research; my buddy Bennett, for giving me all these laugh lines while I drafted and for being so patient in waiting for a book written especially for you; Jonathan Lee for poring over blueprints with me in our senior reading glasses and for being as passionate about my work as I am. You are my shelters in place and ports in the storm.
Steven Cotton Photography
STACEY LEE is the critically acclaimed author of the novels The Downstairs Girl, Under a Painted Sky, and Outrun the Moon, the winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. She is a fourth-generation Chinese American and a founding member of We Need Diverse Books. Born in Southern California, she graduated from UCLA and then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. She lives with her family outside San Francisco.
You can visit Stacey at staceyhlee.com
or follow her on Twitter and Instagram
@staceyleeauthor
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