Author Alyson Richman weaves fact with fantasy in her spooky new novel, The Missing Pages. Richman connects one tragedy --- the death of bibliophile Harry Widener, a passenger on the “unsinkable” steamship, Titanic-- to another, the loss of life in contemporary times, with the drowning accident of Violet Hutchings’ boyfriend, Hugo. Richman’s historical fiction evokes the persistence of eternal love, the healing power of books, and the mysterious phantom who assumed residence in the library at Harvard University for over 80 years.
“A gift born from grief,” Eleanor Widener dedicates a special room in the huge library at Harvard as her way to eulogize her son, Harry, who went down with the Titanic. The “Taj-Mahal-like room” contains the collection of rare manuscripts, antiquarian volumes, precious books of the deceased book collector and his entire ”home study” recreated exactly as it was in Harry’s stately home, Lynwood Hall. A dedication plaque reads ”Harry Elkins Widener, A graduate of this University. Born January 3, 1885. Died at sea, April 15th, 1912. Upon the foundering of the steamship Titanic.” A large painting of Harry hangs in the room above the fireplace.
Decades later, in 1992, Violet a literature student at Harvard, accepts a part-time position as a page in the grand Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Room where she is tasked to organize rather nondescript correspondence between Harry and the two book sellers who helped him find and collect precious books. In addition to Violet’s routine duties, she must order and place fresh flowers weekly on Harry’s Widener’s desk.
Bereaved over her personal loss, dreaming of Hugo and their unrequited love, Violet begins to feel “something spiritual,” a cold breeze in the library without windows. Could her beloved Hugo be trying to communicate with her? Skeptical, Violet recalls the words of the library’s curator, “No one believes in ghosts or spirits until they lose someone they love”. Suddenly she sees a book falling from one of the stacks and then another one lands right in front of her.
Violet shifts her gaze to Harry’s portrait when she sees two laurel leaves fall from its frame. Is Harry Widener trying to reach her. But why? Harry’s been dead for over 80 years. What’s Violet’s connection to him? Violet immerses herself reading about the occult, the mystical, and the paranormal. One day she smells pipe tobacco in the library where there is no one around. Fueled by curiosity and very low expectations, Violet consults a Ouija Board. Looking up at Harry Widener’s portrait she asks, “Have you ever been in love” The planchette on the board moves to unravel a secret held for nearly a century.
Most suitable for young adult readers or incurable romantics, The Missing Pages is a chilling reminder of the tragic loss of lives on a ship once thought to be impervious to damage and the persistence of love in the Edwardian age of constraint and inhibition.