Roll Back the Clouds, my
new novel about the Lusitania, releases on March 17. Many of the
passengers aboard the ill-fated, final voyage appear alongside main characters,
Geoff and Rosaleen Bonnard. I’ll be profiling several of them here. This week, meet
the Pearl family.
Surgeon-Major Warren Pearl serviced with
the Medical Corps in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. After he
married Amy Lea Duncan in 1909, he retired from the military. While vacationing
in Europe in 1914, their third child, Susan, was born, and the Pearls recruited
Alice Lines to help with the children.
While
they were in Denmark, Dr. Pearl went back to England, hoping to enroll Stuart,
their eldest, at Eton. On his return to Denmark through Lübeck, Germany, he was
arrested by the Germans on suspicion of spying for England. He was, after all,
wearing English tweeds and carrying a copy of the London Times. He
telegrammed his wife to come at once. While she was away, Alice Lines hired a
Danish girl, Greta Lorenson, to assist with the children.
In
the spring of 1915, Pearl was ordered to report to the American Embassy in
London. The family traveled on the Lusitania. After the ship was
torpedoed, Warren and Amy became separated from the children and their nurses
on the crowded decks. When the ship sank, they were thrown into the sea. Both
were pulled into lifeboats. They were reunited in Queenstown, and later found
Alice Lines with 5-year-old Stuart and 3-month-old Audrey. No trace was ever
found of Greta Lorenson, 3-year-old Amy (called Bunny), and 15-month-old Susan.
 |
| Survivors Audrey and Stuart Pearl |
In Roll Back
the Clouds, Rosaleen Bonnard is in the same lifeboat as Alice Lines
with Stuart and baby Audrey.
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