Death Came Swiftly: A Novel About the Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879

Death Came Swiftly is a fictional story inspired by the tragic history of the Tay Bridge disaster, which occurred in December 1879, when a Scottish railroad viaduct collapsed during a violent storm, sending a crowded passenger train into the Tay estuary. There were no survivors: only 46 bodies were recovered of the 74 known passengers and crew. In time, a British Court of Inquiry would acknowledge that elements of the bridge were not strong enough to withstand the force of the wind, leading to the failure of the supporting columns.

At the time, the Tay Bridge was the longest in the world. The designer was an experienced engineer, knighted by the queen for his accomplishment. Along with the sinking of the Titanic, the collapse of the bridge, only fourteen months after its completion, remains one of the most shocking technological disasters of the Industrial Age.

Set during the Victorian Era, when railroads, bridges, and other feats of engineering were transforming everyday life-and engineers were achieving a level of celebrity once reserved for poets and war heroes-the story focuses on two men: Charles Jenkins and Stewart Darrs. Jenkins is a young engineer who has committed his reputation to building bridges out of steel, a new material that has yet to be accepted by the British railroad establishment. Darrs is a veteran engineer who has spent thirty years building railroads and iron bridges across Scotland and northern England.

A gripping historical novel, at once carefully researched and artfully imagined, Death Came Swiftly offers powerful and evocative characters, intriguing conflicts, and fascinating period detail, at the center of which is a heartbreaking love triangle.

About the Author

William Abrams is a writer and editor with three decades of experience covering arts, culture, history, and human-interest stories. Abrams was born in New York, a city of islands, and it was there his fascination with bridges first developed. Following graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, he and his wife eloped to California and now live in San Diego with their two sons. Death Came Swiftly is Abrams' first novel.