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NEW YORK, N.Y. — TITANIC: THE TENNIS STORY, the historical novel that narrates the incredible story of two tennis players, Dick Williams and Karl Behr, and how they survived the sinking of the Titanic disaster in 1912 only to play each other in the quarterfinals of the modern-day U.S. Open tennis championships — with the winner going on to stage a major upset victory in the final — is now available for sale as an audio book.

Written by Lindsay Gibbs and narrated by Julie Eickhoff, TITANIC: THE TENNIS STORY tells a narrative tale of Williams and Behr and their incredible stories of survival from the Titanic disaster. The two tennis standouts amazingly survived the sinking and met each other on the rescue ship Carpathia. Two years later, the two became U.S. Davis Cup teammates and again faced each other in the quarterfinals in the biggest tennis tournament in the country, the U.S. Nationals — the modern-day U.S. Open. The winner went on to become the unexpected singles champion of the tournament, winning their first major singles championship with a final-round upset over the world’s best player Maurice McLoughlin – the Roger Federer of this era in tennis.

The audio version of the book is available for $17.46 on Amazon.com and also on Audible.com and on Itunes. The hard copy and electronic version of the book are sold where ever books are sold and on Amazon.com.

Williams, who first played at Wimbledon 100 years ago this year in 1913, was traveling with his father to the United States to enroll in Harvard and was set to begin to test his skills against the top tennis players in the United States. His father was killed when one of Titanic’s smokestacks crushed him, but Williams was able to miraculously survive the night in the cold, icy sea by hanging on to a partially collapsed lifeboat. While on the rescue ship Carpathia, a doctor recommended that his frozen legs be amputated to save his life, but Williams refused and endured enormous pain walking the decks of the ship to restore his circulation. Six weeks after the tragedy, he won his first tennis tournament on U.S. soil at the Pennsylvania State Championships (defeating a young Bill Tilden en route), followed by victories at the U.S. National Mixed Doubles Championships and the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships.

Behr was one of the best tennis players in the United States when he boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912. He was a member of the 1907 U.S. Davis Cup team and a Wimbledon doubles finalist that year. In 1912, he was madly in love with Helen Newsom and his courtship brought him to Europe, where he chased after his future wife and her mother, who was disapproving of the relationship. Both Behr and Newsom had return trips to America on the fated ship Titanic. Behr escaped with in a stroke of luck with Newsom and her family on the second life boat. The two became officially engaged a few months after the sinking and were married 11 months after the disaster on March 1, 1913.

The novel is the first for Gibbs, originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, now a resident of New York. Gibbs constructed the novel based on extensive historical research in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals and from historical first-person writings from the era and of survivors. She took creative license with certain aspects of the story, including dialogue, and created certain situations in the novel, classified as a work of historical fiction.

Founded in 1987, New Chapter Press (www.NewChapterMedia.com) is also the publisher of “The Greatest Tennis Matches of All-Time” by Steve Flink, “Roger Federer: Quest for Perfection” by Rene Stauffer (www.RogerFedererBook.com), “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” by Bud Collins, “The Education of a Tennis Player” by Rod Laver, “The Wimbledon Final That Never Was” by Sidney Wood, “Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match” by Cliff Richey, “Tennis Made Easy” by Kelly Gunterman, “A Backhanded Gift” by Marshall Jon Fisher, “On This Day In Tennis History” by Randy Walker (www.TennisHistoryApp.com), “A Player’s Guide To USTA League Tennis” by Tony Serksnis, “Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games” by Tom Caraccioli and Jerry Caraccioli (www.Boycott1980.com), “Internet Dating 101: A Digital Age Guide To Dating” by Laura Schreffler, “The Lennon Prophecy” by Joe Niezgoda (www.TheLennonProphecy.com), “How To Sell Your Screenplay” by Carl Sautter, “The Rules of Neighborhood Poker” by Stewart Wolpin, “Bone Appetit: Gourmet Cooking for Your” Dog by Suzan Anson, “Lessons from the Wild” by Shayamal Vallabhjee, “Weekend Warriors: The Men of Professional Lacrosse” by Jack McDermott among others.