Frances Wilson wins 2012 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography with Titanic tale

The £5,000 prize has been won by How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of J Bruce Ismay

The book, unanimously voted the winner by the judging panel, tells the story of how the Titanic owner and inheritor of the White Star fortune jumped into a lifeboat with women and children, destroying his reputation in the process.

Chair of judges Roy Foster said that the book: '... required acute psychological insight, the ability to balance conflicting evidence, a judicious sense of empathy with a dislikeable subject, and a powerful but disciplined historical imagination—as well as the ability to find and pursue fascinating sources. Frances Wilson possesses all these qualities, and has used them with scrupulous panache to create a tour de force.'

Journalist, author and critic Frances will be presented with her prize at a Society of Authors awards party on 14 June.

Website: www.societyofauthors.org