Titanic: The Long Night

Titanic: The Long Night

Author	Diane Hoh
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Romance novel
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	1998
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	371 pp
ISBN	0-590-33123-X
OCLC	38531222
Followed by	Remembering the Titanic'

Titanic: The Long Night is a 1998 romance novel by Diane Hoh. It is an entirely fictional story set aboard on the real ship, Titanic.

The plot centers around two main aspects. The first is the story of Elizabeth Farr, who is on the Titanic with her parents on the voyage to New York City, on her way to marry a man she doesn't want to marry, Alan Reed. While on the ship, she has frequent discussions with her parents about wanting to go to college and not wanting to marry Alan, but they refuse to let her make her own decisions. While on ship, she meets Maxwell Whittaker, the son of the rich Whittaker family, and falls in love with him, against the will of her parents.

The plot also deals with the story of Kathleen Hanrahan, a girl who boards in Queenstown, Ireland. She falls in love with a man named Patrick "Paddy" Kelleher. She is also forced to take care of two small kids, Kevin and Bridey, whose caretaker is not paying 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 6 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 in a lifeboat while Brian stays behind.

Max and Elizabeth's father, still on the ship, retire in 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 under water 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. Katie and Paddy are less fortunate however, and have to face it that Brian is dead.

When they get to New York, Elizabeth goes to Vassar college and marries Max, while Paddy becomes a writer and marries Katie.

Fictional Characters

Like the 1997 film, Titanic: The Long Night made up some fictional passengers on the Titanic. Here is a list of them.

• 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, Survives)
• Eileen (Third Class, Survives)
• Kevin (Third Class, Survives)
• Bridey (Third Class, Survives)
• Arthur Beauchamps (First Class, dies)

Remembering the Titanic

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 deals with 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, it is a constant struggle with grief and shock, and 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. When Elizabeth sees the dark, brooding paintings Max has been working on furiously, she knows the Max is wrestling with the same problems that she is. Life for the Titanic survivors has been anything but easy. Will the pain and sadness of that disastrous night be with them forever?