ISBN: 1-930098-74-X

Author: Pierette Domenica Simpson

Publisher: A Harbor Hill Book published by Purple Mountain Press, Ltd.

The musicians are running away. My friends are crying, too. Everybody’s scared of something. I’m scared… Where’s the light? All the screaming in the dark is scaring me. I want my Nonno… Pierette Domenica Simpson 

Pierette Domenica Simpson, the author of Alive on the Andrea Doria! was just nine years old when the impossible happened. On their last night aboard the luxurious ocean liner, the fog was heavy. It was late and many of the passengers had gone to bed. Some, like Pierette and her grandparents, were enjoying their last night aboard the beautiful ship. They were dancing and singing in the ballroom, even as the Stockholm was bearing down on them.

Simpson’s nonfiction account of the collision and the amazing rescue are spellbinding. She does an amazing job of allowing the events to be their own drama. There’s no superfluous re-enacting—she just shares what happened. Some of it’s hard to read. Each of the first eight chapters tells the story from a specific point of view, beginning with her own. There were times when I put the book down, unable to pick it up for a few days. Some stories were harder to read than others.

Statistically, the rescue is the most successful in history. The Doria carried 1,706 passengers and crewmembers. Of those, 46 died in the collision or shortly afterward. The Stockholm lost five crew members. The Doria’s survival rate was 97.3 percent. In contrast, the Titanic’s was just 25 percent.

The second part of the book reviews scientific data that tries to piece together what happened that night. In the aftermath, some passengers claimed that the crew of the Doria abandoned the passengers, but Simpson does a good job of putting that controversy to rest. Simpson reveals the true events behind almost every eyewitness account of cowardice. She uses amazing photographs, diagrams, and charts to reconstruct a story that we’ve not heard before. She shares a modern and scientific explanation that exonerates the Doria’s captain and crew.

Simpson has done an admirable job of sharing the events and wrapping up the tragedy’s loose ends.

 The above review was contributed by: Susan Sales Harkins:  Software consultant and the author of several articles and books on database technologies. She and her husband, William, collaborate on children's non-fiction. Click Here to read more of Susan’s Reviews