October 23, 2025 • 11 mins
1912: Harry Widener, a promising and passionate book collector, boards the Titanic holding tight to a priceless volume he’s just purchased in London. After catastrophe strikes the ship, Harry’s last known words are that he must return to his cabin to retrieve his latest treasure. Neither the young man nor the book are ever seen again. Honoring her son’s memory, Harry’s mother builds the Harry Widener Memorial Library at Harvard to house his extensive book collection and ensure his legacy. Decades later, Violet Hutchins, a Harvard sophomore recovering from her own great loss, is working as a page at the Widener Library. When mysterious things begin happening at the library, Violet wonders if Harry Widener’s ghost is trying to communicate with her, seeking Violet to uncover a long-buried secret that the ardent young Harry took with him to the grave.
“The Missing Pages” reminds us that books are as eternal as the soul – and a book has the power to connect us to our loved ones, transcend time and distance and forge lasting bonds that defy even death.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
“The Missing Pages” reminds us that books are as eternal as the soul – and a book has the power to connect us to our loved ones, transcend time and distance and forge lasting bonds that defy even death.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, please don't forget about erro dot net A
r r oe dot net. I believe in the power
of choice, and your listening habits are a choice. There
are seventeen podcasts to listen to. Please enjoy them. A
R r o e dot net. How are you doing today, Allison,
I'm very good.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you so much for having me on your show.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Let me tell you something. I'm very excited about this
because the way that you have done this book is,
oh my god, so shocking. I mean, even the cover
of the book gives it a texture of where I mean,
it's like, I can't explain it, except it makes it
makes me feel like that I was in that time period.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh that makes me so happy. I mean, the cover
is really really beautiful and evocative of the Gilded Age.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
And it actually it gives it gives a Titanic a
new page basically, you know, pardon the pun, but that's
the way I mean, because it you know, because we
all know the story. But how many people know this story?
Actually I should say story please because this two books, right,
you know, I.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Personally had never known about this legend about Harry Elkinswidner,
the builded aage book collector who perished on the Titanic
and took with him this rare and precious book. So
I don't think that many people have heard about him.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Now, did you find it fascinating in the way? Because
I'm because I'm a big fan of anybody who can
put a pin to paper or a writing instrument on
a page and start bringing out something. And Harry just
seemed to be that guy that he brought things with
him and because no matter where he was, he was Harry,
and he happened to enjoy books.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes, I mean, I think he lends himself to being
in a novel because he was this dashing, twenty seven
year old Harvard graduate, a passionate young man who just
as you said, loved to collect particularly books, and so
automatically right off from you know, the get go, you
have a character, of real life character to work with
(01:59):
that also has this tragic death, you know, at the
age of twenty seven on the Titanic and takes with
him this treasure that is never found again.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So now, how did My thing is is that when
you were doing the research, which you did, a lot
of the thing is is that how did you weigh
the odds between what is clickbait what is authenticity? I mean,
there has to because we're in this age where it's
like we want to rewrite history, but what do we trust?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That's a wonderful question. So I have been a historical
novelist for you know, twenty five years, and doing the
deep dive into the research is for me the most
edifying part of the you know, writing process, because I
get to learn something. So doing that to see as
research and learning about who Harry Elkins was, How did
his family come to be so wealthy, How did his
(02:46):
book buying you know, just date in his childhood and
then into his young adult life, and then how does
his mother make this library at Harvard after he dies
with this very special room inside that? How does you
know his three thousand volume book collection has his original
desk and chairs. All of those details are grounded in fact,
(03:06):
and you know, help create this atmosphere of you know
that comes the backdrop for the novel.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But you know, it's so fascinating with you talking about
those three thousand books right away, I'm going, is there
anybody around today that still collects books like that? Because
I mean that was that was one of the things
as a child, I always dreamt of having this room
that had all of these books, l like Harry, and
I was like, I want that. And nowadays you don't
hear of that.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You don't, But then you know there are these people
who do really still believe that a house isn't a
home unless you have walls of books. I mean, I
feel like I have walls of books. I have books
around my bed, my sofa. So it's definitely not as
beautiful as the Harry Elkinswiden Memorial Library room, but I
think it still exists.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well, let me ask you this personal question, those books
going on to a library, because that's what Eleanor created
for Harry in honor of all of those books. I mean,
for it to leave the origin of where they once belong,
I mean, ah, yeah, yeah, that would be like taking
my daily journals out of here that I've had for
thirty three years.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yes, I mean, I think what Eleanor did after her
son perished on the Titanic so tragically, really is a
testament to maternal love, a way of healing through grief.
Those volumes, which were in the ancestral home of Linwood
Hall outside Philadelphia, were moved to this particular room inside
the memorial Library, which I like to describe as the
(04:33):
beating heart of the library because, as I mentioned, it
has his original desk and chairs, it has this three
thousand volumes, It has this beautiful portrait over the mantle
of Harry, and to this day, every week the librarian
puts fresh flowers on Harry's desk at the request of
Eleanor's behest to the university, in order to conjure up
the sensation that at any moment, Harry might come and
(04:55):
pick one of those volumes off the shelves and sit
down to read. I think it was not only a financial,
you know, endeavor, a endeavor of a mother's love, but
it also was a spiritual endeavor for his mother to
do this, And I think that's one of the reasons
why I wanted to tell this story from in his
own words, as a voice, you know, the voice of
(05:18):
his ghost inside the library his mother built in his honor,
limit You can feel him inhabiting this space with his books,
but also with this connection to his mother and those
who loved him while he was alive.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I am a firm believer in those ghosts, because I
believe that my writing is not me. It is that
it's somebody lived here before I did in this force,
and I write because they said you're going to write.
Do you feel the same way? Do you think who
is your muse?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Ah? That's a great question, you know. I feel every
time I sit down to write a new book, I
have to sort of open this portal inside my head,
in my heart to let those voices come through. Whether
they are the voice of a you know, one who
lived before and I'm channeling a historical character, or even
if it's invented. I do believe that every character on
(06:06):
the page has its own soul, and then I have
to sort of listen to them and do them justice
as I'm trying to bring them to life on the page.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Please do not move. We'll be right back with Alice
and Richmond. The name of the book the Missing Pages.
We're back with author Alice in Richmond. Look at what's
happened to you as that writer and somebody who has
built up a love and a trust as well as
compassion for that writer inside of you. Because the lost
wife right now has taken a path here that there's
(06:35):
no way that you envisioned this when you were putting
those initial words on that page.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Absolutely, there was no way I could have anticipated what
would soon follow with that book.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You're right, but that's the part about writing that you
try to share with those that you know. You know
kind of dabble in it, but it's like no, no,
go farther, go farther. You can push it. Just get
beyond that limit and stop hiding your work.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I think every book pushes you to your limits. You
as you said, it takes, it makes, it pulls you
further than you ever anticipated going when you first set
down at your desk to start writing, and it's a marathon,
and it's you know, it can take several years to
finish in novels. You know, The Lost Life took me
over three and a half years to write, and I
had two children in diapers. So when I look back
(07:20):
at that book, it was such an endeavor of you know,
really believing in the story, even though I think there
were a lot of skeptics in the beginning thinking that
novel would sell. But it just you know, the word
of mouth, people reading a book, falling in love with
the characters, learning something new, That sort of you know,
grassroots energy can really take a book to you know,
(07:42):
the next level when you're least expecting it.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
This book is so much what I call a dear
future reader moment. The missing page is take. I mean,
it's something from a long time ago and you planted
it here, so dear future reader.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean it was something that I never expected
writing about. My daughter was on a tour at Harvard
when she learned this legend about Harry not getting on
the lifeboat with his mother but instead going back to
retrieve this rare and precious book that he had just
purchased in London. And when she shared that story with me,
I immediately was like, I'm sure he just said that
(08:22):
to his mother to you know, give her, you know,
a glimmer of hope that he would be on the
next Life's vote, but that he knew he had to
be a gentleman in stay behind, but the book was
an excuse. But then afterwards, I kept on returning to
that scene, and I thought, was there any truth that
he might have returned to his cabin for a book
that was so precious he'd risk his life to save it.
(08:43):
And that's when I learned he had just you know,
purchased this book of Francis Bacon's Essays, a sixteenth century
manuscript that was as small as a baseball card, so
tiny with gilded, you know, edges, And I was like,
maybe there is some truth to this story. And that's
you know, the questions propel you to think maybe there's
a novel here. And then I started to think, would
(09:05):
it be interesting if he got to tell what really
happened in his own words as a ghost inside the
Library's mother built in his honor because that gave me
the ability for him to speak his truth, to tell
the final chapter of his story when no one else
knew those last moments on the Titanic.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So where were you on the path when his ghost
touched you? Because I because there's no way this automatically
fell into your lap. Somebody had to reach through the
universe in all of those clouds and say, hey, Allison,
you're going to write this.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Where was Where was I at this moment? You know,
that's such a great question. I was at a crossroads
where my you know, I was going to be losing
my last child to college, that they were going off,
and there was this separation and I feel like my
daughter sharing this story was like a parting gift with
me as she embarked on that new chapter of her life.
(09:56):
And I kept on thinking of that scene between mother
and child on the Titanic when I was writing this book.
And your your question is so poignant because I never
thought about the parallel there. But there was this sense
of my daughter giving me a gift in this separation
of saying like, this is a story that I think
is worth investigating, and I'm going off now in a
(10:19):
different direction, you know. So I never thought of that parallel,
but that's where I was when this story was shared
with me. And I actually dedicate the story to Charlotte
because she did give me the first seats of inspiration
to you know, examine and cultivate for this book.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Wow, Where can people go to find out more about you, Allison?
Because I mean, ten minutes with you is just not enough.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
My website is Alison Richmond dot com. My spelling of
my name is a little unique. It's a L Y
s O N riphm an and you can find me
on Instagram at that same name. You can find my
books at hopefully every one of your independent bookstores, Barnes
and no Go all the online site.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
You've got to come back to this show. Then you've
got to come back here and we're going to talk
about your next book. We're going to and then when
and when when The Lost Wife you know, officially is
released in picture form and stuff like that, we got
to talk about it because that's what people need to know.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Oh. I so appreciate the invitation to return and to
really you know, have the opportunity to be able to
talk about the missing pages with you today.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Excellent, Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Okay, you two, Thanks so much,
Hey, guys, please don't forget about erro dot net A
r r oe dot net. I believe in the power
of choice, and your listening habits are a choice. There
are seventeen podcasts to listen to. Please enjoy them. A
R r o e dot net. How are you doing today, Allison,
I'm very good.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you so much for having me on your show.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Let me tell you something. I'm very excited about this
because the way that you have done this book is,
oh my god, so shocking. I mean, even the cover
of the book gives it a texture of where I mean,
it's like, I can't explain it, except it makes it
makes me feel like that I was in that time period.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh that makes me so happy. I mean, the cover
is really really beautiful and evocative of the Gilded Age.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
And it actually it gives it gives a Titanic a
new page basically, you know, pardon the pun, but that's
the way I mean, because it you know, because we
all know the story. But how many people know this story?
Actually I should say story please because this two books, right,
you know, I.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Personally had never known about this legend about Harry Elkinswidner,
the builded aage book collector who perished on the Titanic
and took with him this rare and precious book. So
I don't think that many people have heard about him.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Now, did you find it fascinating in the way? Because
I'm because I'm a big fan of anybody who can
put a pin to paper or a writing instrument on
a page and start bringing out something. And Harry just
seemed to be that guy that he brought things with
him and because no matter where he was, he was Harry,
and he happened to enjoy books.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes, I mean, I think he lends himself to being
in a novel because he was this dashing, twenty seven
year old Harvard graduate, a passionate young man who just
as you said, loved to collect particularly books, and so
automatically right off from you know, the get go, you
have a character, of real life character to work with
(01:59):
that also has this tragic death, you know, at the
age of twenty seven on the Titanic and takes with
him this treasure that is never found again.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So now, how did My thing is is that when
you were doing the research, which you did, a lot
of the thing is is that how did you weigh
the odds between what is clickbait what is authenticity? I mean,
there has to because we're in this age where it's
like we want to rewrite history, but what do we trust?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That's a wonderful question. So I have been a historical
novelist for you know, twenty five years, and doing the
deep dive into the research is for me the most
edifying part of the you know, writing process, because I
get to learn something. So doing that to see as
research and learning about who Harry Elkins was, How did
his family come to be so wealthy, How did his
(02:46):
book buying you know, just date in his childhood and
then into his young adult life, and then how does
his mother make this library at Harvard after he dies
with this very special room inside that? How does you
know his three thousand volume book collection has his original
desk and chairs. All of those details are grounded in fact,
(03:06):
and you know, help create this atmosphere of you know
that comes the backdrop for the novel.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But you know, it's so fascinating with you talking about
those three thousand books right away, I'm going, is there
anybody around today that still collects books like that? Because
I mean that was that was one of the things
as a child, I always dreamt of having this room
that had all of these books, l like Harry, and
I was like, I want that. And nowadays you don't
hear of that.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You don't, But then you know there are these people
who do really still believe that a house isn't a
home unless you have walls of books. I mean, I
feel like I have walls of books. I have books
around my bed, my sofa. So it's definitely not as
beautiful as the Harry Elkinswiden Memorial Library room, but I
think it still exists.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well, let me ask you this personal question, those books
going on to a library, because that's what Eleanor created
for Harry in honor of all of those books. I mean,
for it to leave the origin of where they once belong,
I mean, ah, yeah, yeah, that would be like taking
my daily journals out of here that I've had for
thirty three years.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yes, I mean, I think what Eleanor did after her
son perished on the Titanic so tragically, really is a
testament to maternal love, a way of healing through grief.
Those volumes, which were in the ancestral home of Linwood
Hall outside Philadelphia, were moved to this particular room inside
the memorial Library, which I like to describe as the
(04:33):
beating heart of the library because, as I mentioned, it
has his original desk and chairs, it has this three
thousand volumes, It has this beautiful portrait over the mantle
of Harry, and to this day, every week the librarian
puts fresh flowers on Harry's desk at the request of
Eleanor's behest to the university, in order to conjure up
the sensation that at any moment, Harry might come and
(04:55):
pick one of those volumes off the shelves and sit
down to read. I think it was not only a financial,
you know, endeavor, a endeavor of a mother's love, but
it also was a spiritual endeavor for his mother to
do this, And I think that's one of the reasons
why I wanted to tell this story from in his
own words, as a voice, you know, the voice of
(05:18):
his ghost inside the library his mother built in his honor,
limit You can feel him inhabiting this space with his books,
but also with this connection to his mother and those
who loved him while he was alive.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I am a firm believer in those ghosts, because I
believe that my writing is not me. It is that
it's somebody lived here before I did in this force,
and I write because they said you're going to write.
Do you feel the same way? Do you think who
is your muse?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Ah? That's a great question, you know. I feel every
time I sit down to write a new book, I
have to sort of open this portal inside my head,
in my heart to let those voices come through. Whether
they are the voice of a you know, one who
lived before and I'm channeling a historical character, or even
if it's invented. I do believe that every character on
(06:06):
the page has its own soul, and then I have
to sort of listen to them and do them justice
as I'm trying to bring them to life on the page.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Please do not move. We'll be right back with Alice
and Richmond. The name of the book the Missing Pages.
We're back with author Alice in Richmond. Look at what's
happened to you as that writer and somebody who has
built up a love and a trust as well as
compassion for that writer inside of you. Because the lost
wife right now has taken a path here that there's
(06:35):
no way that you envisioned this when you were putting
those initial words on that page.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Absolutely, there was no way I could have anticipated what
would soon follow with that book.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You're right, but that's the part about writing that you
try to share with those that you know. You know
kind of dabble in it, but it's like no, no,
go farther, go farther. You can push it. Just get
beyond that limit and stop hiding your work.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I think every book pushes you to your limits. You
as you said, it takes, it makes, it pulls you
further than you ever anticipated going when you first set
down at your desk to start writing, and it's a marathon,
and it's you know, it can take several years to
finish in novels. You know, The Lost Life took me
over three and a half years to write, and I
had two children in diapers. So when I look back
(07:20):
at that book, it was such an endeavor of you know,
really believing in the story, even though I think there
were a lot of skeptics in the beginning thinking that
novel would sell. But it just you know, the word
of mouth, people reading a book, falling in love with
the characters, learning something new, That sort of you know,
grassroots energy can really take a book to you know,
(07:42):
the next level when you're least expecting it.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
This book is so much what I call a dear
future reader moment. The missing page is take. I mean,
it's something from a long time ago and you planted
it here, so dear future reader.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean it was something that I never expected
writing about. My daughter was on a tour at Harvard
when she learned this legend about Harry not getting on
the lifeboat with his mother but instead going back to
retrieve this rare and precious book that he had just
purchased in London. And when she shared that story with me,
I immediately was like, I'm sure he just said that
(08:22):
to his mother to you know, give her, you know,
a glimmer of hope that he would be on the
next Life's vote, but that he knew he had to
be a gentleman in stay behind, but the book was
an excuse. But then afterwards, I kept on returning to
that scene, and I thought, was there any truth that
he might have returned to his cabin for a book
that was so precious he'd risk his life to save it.
(08:43):
And that's when I learned he had just you know,
purchased this book of Francis Bacon's Essays, a sixteenth century
manuscript that was as small as a baseball card, so
tiny with gilded, you know, edges, And I was like,
maybe there is some truth to this story. And that's
you know, the questions propel you to think maybe there's
a novel here. And then I started to think, would
(09:05):
it be interesting if he got to tell what really
happened in his own words as a ghost inside the
Library's mother built in his honor because that gave me
the ability for him to speak his truth, to tell
the final chapter of his story when no one else
knew those last moments on the Titanic.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
So where were you on the path when his ghost
touched you? Because I because there's no way this automatically
fell into your lap. Somebody had to reach through the
universe in all of those clouds and say, hey, Allison,
you're going to write this.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Where was Where was I at this moment? You know,
that's such a great question. I was at a crossroads
where my you know, I was going to be losing
my last child to college, that they were going off,
and there was this separation and I feel like my
daughter sharing this story was like a parting gift with
me as she embarked on that new chapter of her life.
(09:56):
And I kept on thinking of that scene between mother
and child on the Titanic when I was writing this book.
And your your question is so poignant because I never
thought about the parallel there. But there was this sense
of my daughter giving me a gift in this separation
of saying like, this is a story that I think
is worth investigating, and I'm going off now in a
(10:19):
different direction, you know. So I never thought of that parallel,
but that's where I was when this story was shared
with me. And I actually dedicate the story to Charlotte
because she did give me the first seats of inspiration
to you know, examine and cultivate for this book.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Wow, Where can people go to find out more about you, Allison?
Because I mean, ten minutes with you is just not enough.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
My website is Alison Richmond dot com. My spelling of
my name is a little unique. It's a L Y
s O N riphm an and you can find me
on Instagram at that same name. You can find my
books at hopefully every one of your independent bookstores, Barnes
and no Go all the online site.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
You've got to come back to this show. Then you've
got to come back here and we're going to talk
about your next book. We're going to and then when
and when when The Lost Wife you know, officially is
released in picture form and stuff like that, we got
to talk about it because that's what people need to know.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Oh. I so appreciate the invitation to return and to
really you know, have the opportunity to be able to
talk about the missing pages with you today.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Excellent, Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Okay, you two, Thanks so much,
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