The Great Forgotten

“A must read for lovers of historical fiction and readers all.” —Award-winning NYT and USA Today bestselling author Charles Todd


“Murphy gracefully memorializes this tragedy . . .” —Booklist


One War. Two Loves. A Lifetime to Remember.


July 4, 1918, Nashville, Tennessee. Even as the war in Germany drones on, patriotism swells at home. There are celebrations, music, and dancing. But for five men—one train engineer, one porter, one salesman, one farmer, and one thief—the world will soon take a terrible and tragic turn.


Summer, 1988. Ginny Campbell is a young woman unsure of her marriage and her future. Moving into a new house, she finds an old, abandoned trunk filled with carefully wrapped memorabilia, photos, and a woman’s name. Intrigued, she sets out to uncover the mystery of the steamer trunk, leading her on a sweeping journey of love and loss that stretches back to 1918.


Inspired by a true event. The great train wreck near Nashville on July 9, 1918, when two passenger trains collided due to human error, was a horrific disaster that killed over 100 people and injured hundreds more. The Great Forgotten is a gripping tale of five men whose lives were intertwined that fateful day and the ripple effect of this little-known American tragedy on the woman who knew them all.


For readers who enjoy The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis, The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer, and All the Broken Places by John Boyne.