Why did the Californian look on while the Titanic sank? On a wretchedly cold night in the North Atlantic, a steamer stopped in an icefield sees the glow of another ship on the horizon. Just after midnight the first of eight distress rockets is fired.
You can purchase The Midnight Watch here:
Penguin Random House Amazon (US) Amazon (UK) Amazon Australia (Kindle)
Audio books:
Audible.com (Australia) Amazon.com (US) Audiobooks.com
Click here to read an extract.
Click here to read reviews and comments.
Click here to listen to me talking about The Midnight Watch.
Penguin's announcement of their acquisition of The Midnight Watch:
A brilliant exploration of the small human failings that can lead to the greatest disasters, the novel tells the captivating true story of Captain Lord, and others of the ship Californian, whose crewmen saw eight distress rockets fired by the Titanic on that fateful night, but unfathomably failed to act.
Commenting on the acquisition, Ben Ball, Publishing Director Penguin General said, "The Midnight Watch is one of the most vivid, convincing, compelling historical novels I’ve ever read, born of a deep knowledge and a deeper storytelling skill. By looking at a grand historical moment through the prism of the smallest human actions – and inactions – David brings something fresh and exciting to one of the world’s best-known catastrophes. I’m delighted his exhilarating voice will be heard around the world.”
David, an English teacher in Sydney, worked for many years as a lawyer in the London legal practice whose parent firm represented the Titanic’s owners back in 1912, and he has also spent time at sea as a ship’s officer. In 2013 he completed his Doctorate of Creative Arts at UTS with bestselling author Debra Adelaide. Although a work of imaginative fiction, Midnight Watch is the result of many years of his research in New York, Boston, London, Liverpool and mid-Atlantic, over the Titanic wreck site itself.
“For many years I have been fascinated by the Titanic, but even more so by the strange ship that stood by and watched her sink. So I am very pleased that my novel about the Californian is now to be published by Penguin Books, and I hope people enjoy reading the story of this intriguing ship and her enigmatic captain as much as I have enjoyed writing it,” said David.
Find out more at
Australia and New Zealand: Penguin Books
US: St Martin's Press
UK: Atlantic Books