It was a holiday that many wish for. Adrienne Vaughan, 45, known as the American Harry Potter publisher, had come to Italy from the United States with her husband Mike White and their children Leanna, 12, and Mason, 8, to experience culture and the sea. The classic tour: first Rome, then to the coast. On August 2, three days ago, Mike posted a photo of the four of them: an apparently very happy and sympathetic family in front of the Trevi Fountain in the Italian capital.
Then it was four more hours to the Amalfi Coast south of Naples. There the family decided to take a trip to the sea, the scenery is spectacular. On Thursday she rented a yacht, not big, about nine meters long. To anticipate the end: The captain of the “Gozzo” apparently lost control of his boat during the excursion and collided hard with the 40-meter party ship “Tortuga”, on board of which a wedding party with 85 American and German guests was taking place. There are depressing private videos about the course of the accident.
The sudden collision threw Adrienne Vaughan overboard into the water. According to media reports, the 45-year-old fell between the two hulls and the moving propellers of the two ships. The seriously injured was recovered by the Coast Guard and brought to the pier in Amalfi. Doctors at the scene tried to save her, but by the time the rescue helicopter arrived, Vaughan was already dead.
Husband Mike sustained a bruised shoulder and several wounds, the children appeared unharmed. The captain of the motor boat had an arm injury. Blood was drawn from the 30-year-old to check for alcohol or drugs. Apparently the test was positive, more details are not yet known.
Vaughan has served as President of Bloomsbury Publishing USA, the US arm of the British publisher that published the world-famous Harry Potter saga, since 2021. To date, more than 500 million copies have been sold worldwide, in 80 languages. Although the seven volumes of the series are now up to 25 years old, they are still on the bestseller lists, three of them currently in the top ten in Italy. The film adaptations are still shown in theaters and on millions of laptops every day by people of all ages. Bloomsbury also has other famous authors under contract, such as former US President Barack Obama.
The publisher studied finance at New York University and majored in marketing at William & Mary Public University in Williamsburg, Virginia. There she met her future husband Mike, with whom she lived in Glen Rock, New Jersey. The family loved to travel, including to the American national parks, to London or Paris – 2023 should be the “Italian year”, the newspaper reports Corriere della Sera. A holiday the way you liked it: sea and culture. Only this time the journey ended in tragedy.
On the Amalfi coast, meanwhile, there is a discussion about whether there are now too many ships in too small a space. The authorities emphasize that all safety standards are observed. Critics are calling for the rules to be revised in the interests of tourism, safety and environmental protection.