BY ADRIAN MULLAN
WHEN Omagh author Martina Devlin was doing some research for a book, she stumbled upon some facts which suggested that in her own family history, there was Titanic tragedy and romance to rival that of the greatest of Hollywood love stories.
Martina discovered that a great grand-uncle had perished aboard the Titanic as he set off with either his lover or wife to find a new life for themselves in the United States. Though he lost his life the girl he had eloped with, Hannah Godfrey, survived and five months later bore his child.
These extraordinary and touching facts inspired Martina to pen a new book based on that tragic romance in perhaps one of the most infamous, and romantically reconsidered, tragedies of all times.
Her research and passion for the subject resulted in the book 'Ship of Dreams' which will be published in Dublin next week by Poolbeg Fiction.
Speaking ahead of the book's release Martina said, "I was inspired to write this novel when I was doing research on the Internet, and I was running my eye down a name and address list for those on board the Titanic when a name, 'Thomas O'Brien, jumped out at me."
It transpired that Thomas was a brother of her grandmother, both hailing from Bonavie, Co. Limerick. She dug further and eventually turned up a photo of the ill-fated Thomas (and later Hannah) and noticed that there was a resemblance to other family members.
Martina added, "I wanted to reclaim Hannah and her daughter for the family but above all I wanted to recover Tom O'Brien, this great uncle of mine who never lived to see the US or his child."
She continued, "Drawing on what I knew of their story, I started writing 'Ship of Dreams'.
"I should stress that the book is fictionalised - the version of events my imagination suggested – because we don't really know what happened beyond a pregnancy an elopement and a death from drowning aboard the world's most famous ship."
Martina, who was already a renowned journalist and columnist before turning becoming a best-selling author, previously lived in Brookmount in Omagh, and now lives in Dublin.-
