In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful speaks with Donna Jones Alward, author of Ship of Dreams, about reimagining the Titanic through female friendship, class, courage, and the emotional lives of the women aboard. Listeners will discover how a story everyone thinks they know can feel newly intimate when the focus shifts from spectacle to character.

Together, Colin and Donna explore the real-world details that shaped Ship of Dreams: the opulence of first-class life, the strange and haunting atmosphere aboard the brand-new ship, the Halifax connection to the disaster, and the many small conditions that made the tragedy possible. They also talk about why historical fiction works best when history provides the structure but human relationships provide the heart.

Donna Jones  ...