Although the Titanic disaster happened 113 years ago, it still lives on in a mountain of movies, books and documentaries. The fascination never seems to abate. According to Encyclopedia Titanica (yes, there is such a thing), “There are over 520 different book titles that have been or are in print, with the number jumping to over 700 if you count assorted reprints.”

While most of these books would have no reason to point it out, there were Chestnut Hill area residents on the massive ship who survived. According to New York Times articles after the disaster, Charlotte Cardeza and her son, Thomas, who both survived, were returning from an African safari when they got on the Titanic and were rescued in a lifeboat. Thomas settled with his wife at 305 W. Chestnut Hill Ave., which they named Parkside Manor. After Thomas’ death in 1952, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia purchased Parkside Manor, which then served as living quarters for teaching priests. Charlotte lived in a massive estate in Germantown called Montebello. In 1940, it was sold and demolished. The new owners converted it into an apartment complex at Washington Lane and Morton Street.

Another Chestnut Hill resident, Lily Alexenia Wilson Potter, who lived in a mansion called The Evergreens at Stenton Avenue and Summit Street, was also on the Titanic. A widow, Potter toured Italy, Turkey and the Middle East with her daughter, Olive, and Olive’s friend, Margaret Hays, before getting onto the Titanic. All three survived in a lifeboat. Lily died at the age of 98.

The newest book about the Titanic, “The Missing Pages” (publisher Union Square & Co.), released last month, written by Alyson Richman, author of 11 historical novels, deals with another area resident, Harry Elkins Widener, an Elkins Park native who died on the Titanic at the age of 27. (A previous best-seller by Richman, “The Lost Wife,” currently in development for a major motion picture, is about a husband and wife who were separated in a concentration camp during World War II and meet 60 years later at their grandchildren’s wedding. Richman’s novels have been published in more than 25 languages.)

What prompted an interest in the Titanic so compelling that Richman chose to write a book about it? “The first seeds of inspiration for ‘The Missing Pages’ came from my daughter, who as part of a summer education program, found herself taking a tour of Harvard University,” Richman told the Local last week. “As the prospective students approached the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, the tour guide relayed that Harry, a Harvard graduate and ardent bibliophile, had perished aboard the Titanic.

“Harry, who was traveling back with his parents from a book-buying trip in Europe, did not get on a lifeboat after the ship struck the iceberg. Instead, according to the lore, he chose to return to his cabin to retrieve a priceless book he had just purchased. In response to Harry’s tragic death, his mother, Eleanor Widener, decided to honor his memory by creating a new library at his alma mater, ensuring that his book collection would always have a home and could always be enjoyed by both students and scholars.

“When my daughter told me this story, I immediately thought of the emotional and physical separation of a mother and son. Surely, I thought, Harry only told his mother he was returning to his cabin to just quickly grab a book as a way of easing her desperation — and also to make sure that she would get on the lifeboat and save herself.

“But as the weeks went by, I continued to return to that scene in my mind. I began to wonder whether there was any credibility to the idea of Harry possessing a book so valuable that he might risk his life to try to save it. If so, what book could it be? Immediately, I felt that same flicker of excitement that I get every time I come upon an unexplored story that I sense might make a really interesting novel.”

To do her due diligence and to learn the truth behind the Harry Elkins Widener legend, Richman traveled to England to visit the London store of famed bookseller Bernard Alfred Quaritch, where Widener was believed to have bought the book, a rare 1598 edition of “Francis Bacon’s Essays,” that allegedly cost Widener his life.

“Several letters relating to Harry are still preserved at the store’s archives,” Richman said. “Particularly noteworthy was one from Bernard Quaritch to Harry’s friend and Philadelphia-based bookseller, A.S.W. Rosenbach. In it, he mentioned that Harry had jokingly told him he intended to keep the Bacon in his breast pocket, so in case he was ever shipwrecked, he would always have something to read. I try to weave as much historical fact into my novels so that the readers can always learn something as they turn the pages.”

There have been several reports over the years of “ghostly happenings” inside the Widener Library, according to Richman’s research. During the building’s renovation, Harry’s portrait was removed from his memorial room and replaced with a piece of plywood. Soon after, pieces of plaster began to fall from the ceiling without any explanation. Once a temporary replica of the painting was put up, the plaster stopped falling, leading many people to believe that a supernatural element had been involved. One reviewer called “The Missing Pages” “a love story, a ghost story and an elegy to the healing power of books.”

For more information, visit alysonrichman.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.