The Titanic Waif

By: Darby Kern

Narrated by: full cast

Length: 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The sinking of the Titanic is a maritime disaster whose drama has stood the test of time. The personal stories that have come from the tragedy have spawned books, movies, plays, songs and, yes, even audio dramas.

One of the lesser-known stories is that of the Navratils, a family caught in misfortune as the Titanic, while on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic. The Navratil children, Edmond and Michel, Jr., became known as the Titanic waifs, because none of their rescuers knew who they were.

We invite you now to join us as we tell the tale of The Titanic Waif, a story of love, mystery, heartbreak, and sacrifice.

©2021 Darby Kern (P)2021 Audiobooks Unleashed

Of course I'm biased... so I'll tell you about it.

As the author and director of this drama I'm biased about how good it is- so I won't do a regular review and just tell you a bit about how this came about.

I first read the full story of the Navratil family (or the Hoffmann's-= the name they travelled under) when I read Charles Pellegrino's wonderful book, The Ghosts of the Titanic, a followup to the BEST book about the ship, Her Name, Titanic. Of course I'd read about "The Titanic Waifs" in other books, but the whole poignant story had not yet been revealed. Dr. Pellegrino was even friends with Michel Navratil, the focus of this drama. He didn't say a LOT about them, but fun very few words he told a story that moved me to tears every time I tried to tell it.

One day my wife and I visited The Titanic Experience in Orlando, which was very nice. One aspect of the museum was that every ticket is stamped with the name of someone who travelled on that ill-fated voyage. My ticket said Michel Navratil (a curious error, because they didn't travel under their real names). As I told the story to a friend over dinner that night she said, "You need to make that movie." Well, I don't believe anyone will be able to make another Titanic movie in my lifetime, but she inspired me to write the script for this audio drama. I wrote it, and fell in love with the characters and the story... so I didn't want to make it until the time was absolutely right.

That happened last year when Craig Hart, the producer of the show convinced me he was the guy to get it made. For several evenings (during the tail end of the Covid shutdown) I spent hours directing some of my favorite, and the most talented people I know; Actors you know from an amazing selection of audio dramas! It was a dream come true.

The story still brings tears to my eyes. I hope you like it too.