Category Archives: Travel

Cats and books go together

Surprise reader of the Wartime Librarian

The long, hot summer gradually came to an end and as I write this, today is the Autumn equinox. For many of us, there will be a sigh of relief – me for one, typing away in my railway carriage in the garden, and having to give up by noon. And when the longed-for rain finally happened, I have a green lawn again. Wonderful! And now we have the beautiful autumn to enjoy.

For those who live anywhere around East Sussex – I’m near Lewes – you must go to Alfriston and visit Much Ado, a gem of a bookshop. It really is the most charming bookshop I’ve ever been in, with one exception. When I was in Savannah a few years ago, my nephew, Adam, took me to a bookshop he knew I would love. It’s set out in a quaint and similar fashion to Much Ado but has three sofas in three different areas, all occupied by a resident cat. So you can take a book you’re interested in and flip through it, all the while stroking a cat, with that gorgeous sound of purring in your ears. Heaven! I must tell the owner of Much Ado next time I visit that cats are the only thing missing in his shop!

Earlier this month, I arrived at the University Women’s Club in Mayfair where I met fellow member, Alison Morton, my critique writing partner. Although she lives in France, this one night coincided with her short stay at the Club before going on to her crime fiction weekend at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, so it was great to have supper and a good natter.

Port Isaac writers

The following day, I was on my way to Port Isaac – the sweetest little village. I met up with two writing friends: Suzanne Goldring who owns a cottage a mere stroll from that stunning bay where each programme of Doc Martin opens, and Gail Aldwin. Sadly, our fourth member of the Vestas, Carol McGrath, couldn’t join us as her husband Patrick had recently died. We had a week beavering away at our novels and other writing, then using the afternoon tea-breaks to read out our chapters and Gail’s short play and critique them.

I’m delighted to say that while I was there I wrote the first five chapters of a brand-new novel set in the Second World War (as mine all are) at the BBC. That one won’t be out until Summer 2028, but the one I’m editing at the moment: Wartime Secrets at Down Street Station comes out next May. As I write this, Avon HarperCollins are designing the cover so I hope to give you a foretaste the next time I write a blogpost.

Forgive me if I do a little bragging, but the last time I checked on Amazon to see how my current book, Wartime Wishes at the Mayfair Club (modelled on the University Women’s Club) was doing in the Historical Military Fiction Top 50 Bestsellers, I was amazed to see six of my books in the first 40. This is truly a record for me and I’m so thrilled readers seem to be enjoying my stories as much as I love writing them.

I really like it when other authors tell me what novels they’ve been reading lately and can vouch for, but have to confess I read 90% non-fiction – not all, but mostly for research. And I could recommend almost every one! That’s a hugely enjoyable part of being a writer, uncovering fascinating facts you knew nothing about. And on that note, I’ll say:

Happy reading to you all.

Molly Green

Cats and Books – what a combination!

1 Reply

How is it possible that our lovely summer has already slipped into Autumn? And this time it was even more of a shock because the glorious weather had just turned a whole lot cooler. Luckily, for me, my Grecian writing retreat was just around the corner.

And what a (re)treat! Our small writing group was unfortunately one down (Suzanne Goldring couldn’t make it), but Carol McGrath, owner of a property in the sun-drenched, stunning coastline of the Mani, was a great hostess to Gail Aldwin and me in spite of having recently undergone a major operation. The four of us have annually (when possible) come together to write in The Greek House, sight-see, eat delicious food and share wine, shop (difficult to resist the colourful clothes at bargain prices), and relax in the blissful warmth of a summer evening.

This time we went to an unusual concert in the mountains, given by three vibrant young women who played different instruments and sang in 28 languages. Their voices in perfect harmony were magical. With all this going on, you’d think we’d have no time left to write. Wrong! We managed several hours every day, and at four o’clock we’d meet for tea and homemade scones (by me!) and read out our chapters and critique them. It works like a dream. I wrote 11,000 words – a record in 7 days for me. No matter that I deleted at least a thousand when I was home. That’s all part of the writing process.

In August, I gave a talk at the University Women’s Club where I’ve been a member for over thirty years. The subject was some of the iconic buildings I’ve used for my settings in my novels. It was the first time I’ve ever used a projector and screen and although I’d practised under the instructions of author Alison Morton (also a member), who kindly put the slide show together, I was still nervous on the night.

Of course, technology sometimes acts up (not my fault, of course!) but gave the audience a few laughs – never a bad thing at a talk. I was surprised so few of the women (there were only two men in the audience) had been to Bletchley Park and Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms, so I’m hoping my books on those subjects will inspire them to pay a visit.

One of the slides I showed was Longleat, near Bath. It’s been on the television several times lately but mostly commentating on the grounds and the history of the world-famous safari. However, during the war the safari didn’t exist. The Marquis of Bath was requested by the War Ministry to take in a private school called The Royal School for Daughters of the Officers of the Army. I read a memoir of one of the girls who attended there during the war. A spoilt and rebellious child, she was eventually expelled.

The Marquis also gave permission for the Americans to build an American military hospital in the grounds. Perfect! I now had an American doctor who would be the hero, working and living in a conglomeration of hurriedly built huts, and my heroine would be in the grand house as the librarian.

Throw the rebellious teen (they didn’t use the term ‘teenager’ in the war) into the mix and I had the fragments of a story which became The Wartime Librarian’s Secret, published last July. You can see how it appeals to cats as well as readers!

The penultimate building I showed was the club itself. I told them this is the setting I’ve chosen for my latest book, out next June. It’s called Wartime Secrets at the Mayfair Club: The Ladies’ Mayfair Club survived the Blitz – but can it survive betrayal?

Just days ago I wrote THE END on a very rough draft, but at least the story is down so I’m able to enjoy all the editing it needs before submission. This time I’m tiptoeing into spy-land and have discovered another piece of history – namely the British Union of Fascists – that I never realised was quite so widespread and so treacherous, and that if Oswald Mosley and his tens of thousands of supporters had been successful, they could have completely changed the outcome of the war.

* * *

If anyone is near Lewes, East Sussex on Saturday, 15th November, do come to a talk I’m giving in the library located at Styles Field, Friar’s Walk, 1.30 – 3pm and signing copies of The Wartime Librarian’s Secret. I would love to see you so please introduce yourself if you do. There will be a similar slide show to the one in the UWC and you’ll have the chance to see the last slide which is actually a video made especially for me showing the ultimate iconic building – where I write!
Until next time, happy reading.

Molly Green

Trains, Bath and books

Leave a Reply

The four Diamonds

Well, looking out of my First Class compartment window (many of you will know I now write my novels in a 1930’s replica of a railway carriage in the garden), one would never know it’s summer by the temperature and gloomy grey skies. I just hope it improves as I have lovely summery events coming up soon: two trips to Glyndebourne, one of them on my birthday to see The Merry Widow which I know well, having sung in the chorus many years ago in an amateur operatic production, and I’m presenting my garden to the public on the 23^rd so it really must keep fine that week – for all of us!

My writing friends who, with me, formed the Diamonds writing group ten years ago, decided to have a day out as when we meet each month, it’s always to concentrate on our work in progress. We decided to go by Pullman train to Bath (my selfish suggestion as my new heroine is an assistant librarian in the Bath Lending Library). What a fabulous train. As you can see from the photograph at the top, here are the four of us lapping up the luxury. We were waited on hand and foot.

Inside the Pullman coach

It was ages since any of us had visited Bath, so how lovely to wander round and become reacquainted with the stunning buildings and quaint shops.

We looked in at the Pump Room (where my current novel opens!) and I was able to have a chat with a waiter who’d been there for 25 years and was very aware of its history, and then made for Persephone Books which moved from Bloomsbury in London three years ago.

Just walking through the door, I felt completely at home, as the store is laid out in a similar fashion. I’m a big fan of this company that reprints authors – mainly female – who were well-known in their time but fell out of fashion over the following decades. Nicola Beauman, founder and owner, now on the brink of handing the reins to her daughter, was there to greet me with a big hug. It was wonderful catching up with her and of course I couldn’t leave without a bagful of books, and neither could any of the other Diamonds.

In Ringmer (near Lewes) where I now live, I made fast friends with Liz, the librarian. She’s given me some fascinating details about cataloguing during the war. The system was devised in 1876 and we still use it today. Even better, she put my name down as a volunteer in the library for a couple of afternoons, just to get a flavour of being behind the counter.

My only experience of working in a ‘library’ was when I was about 6 years old and my older sister cut out a potato which, when inked, was used as a stamp for the books, representing their return date! A sharp contrast to the computer. It was such a jolly afternoon meeting some really interesting borrowers although libraries nowadays are so different. For one thing, you’re allowed to talk in them! The heartwarming part was the children choosing their books. They were much more focused on what they wanted to read than the adults! I can’t wait for the second session in July.

Photo by Comstock on Freeimages.com

In the meantime, I must check the proofs of the next novel out on 26th September: Courage for the Cabinet Girl. This is set in Winston Churchill’s underground War Rooms. He conducted practically the whole of the war from his Cabinet Room. If you’ve never been there, I do urge you to go. You’ll find it incredibly atmospheric and full of fascinating detail.

Happy summer reading,
Molly

Where has 2023 gone?

Leave a Reply

It seems impossible that Christmas is almost upon us. Every year I say this, but this year, really, how on earth did a whole year slip away while I wasn’t looking. Next year I’m determined to hang on to it.

To update you on my books, my last Bletchley Park novel in the series: Wartime Wishes at Bletchley Park, came out at the end of November in time, I hope, for readers to curl up for some relaxation during all the mad preparations for Christmas and over the festivities.

On Saturday I gave a talk at Ringmer Village Hall (near Lewes, Sussex) about how I do my research for my historical novels. When I’d spread all my novels out on the table I could hardly believe there were twelve, especially as I was such a late starter – just turned 60!

Once again I had a super audience who were laughing along with all my experiences that I went through to exploit for authenticity in my novels. I described going on a cargo ship as one of my modern heroines, Juliet, did when she followed in her grandparents footsteps to Australia. They had emigrated in 1913 when they were only nineteen and twenty years of age and had just become engaged and were in steerage on a magnificent ship called the Orsova. I based it on my own grandparents who did exactly the same thing just before the Great War.

Another experience was piloting a Spitfire! Yes, you read it here! All right, it was a simulator but it felt absolutely real to me. I’m not keen on flying generally but felt I had to appreciate how it felt to be in control for the sake of my heroine in A Sister’s Courage where Raine joined the Air Transport Auxiliary and flew many different planes in wartime. It was a fabulous experience. The Spitfire was so sensitive to every movement and seemed to work out what I wanted it to do before I knew myself! The instructor assured me every detail was exactly the same, even to the smell of the cockpit.

And a third example was when my late husband and I went to Ditchley Park on a Churchill tour and we slept in Clemmie Churchill’s bedroom and enjoyed her huge en-suite bathroom. Apparently, her bath was bigger than Winston’s so he often used to come in from his adjoining room and use it! So, reader, Molly Green was only a watermark away from the great man’s posterior!

In a strange way it’s easier to write novels when one has had plenty of life’s experiences. I’ve had a life full of adventures and almost always have something to draw on, particularly the emotions that have accompanied my travels and meetings with people from different backgrounds, sometimes foreign, and in unusual work places – all grist for a novelist.

Denise's 1st class compartment And my job is made even more fun nowadays as my fantastically-creative builders have now finished my new office in the garden – a First Class carriage with a real 30’s train door! I can’t wait to get in there each morning and start writing! This time I’m revealing a young woman’s life as a secretary in Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms during the Second World War. I visited them decades ago but am due to go again shortly to refresh myself as to the layout and the many different departments. Conditions were terrible to work in but it’s incredibly fascinating and I urge you to make a resolution to go this coming year.

In the meantime I hope you have a Merry Christmas. See you in the New Year!

Molly Green

Cats, Savannah and a new book

Leave a Reply

Panorama of the River Street district, Savannah at night

I know I’ve neglected posting on my blog but editing and proofing the latest book and starting a new one seems to have taken up more time than usual, besides other smaller writing projects, one of them being a volunteer to be a reader in the New Writers’ Scheme of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. It made me realise what a huge responsibility it is to comment and steer newbies in the right direction without discouraging them. I put my own manuscripts through the NWS a decade ago and found the reports to be really helpful so I do hope my protégée will feel the same!

And then I’ve had two wonderful trips away – the first with my three pals in Port Isaac (Doc Martin’s seaside location!) where we use much of the time to concentrate on developing our current novels, broken up by delicious meals and walks to the harbour in the evenings with a bottle of something fizzy between us, all interspersed with giggles and laughter. What a tonic they were, just when I needed it.

In June my sister and I went to see her son and his family who live in Savannah in the USA. Having lived in the States, including Georgia, for many years, Carole and I knew the city a little, but this time we really got to know it. Thank goodness it remains very similar to how we remembered it, as it’s under all sorts of protection because of its unique history. And of course it was lovely to be with her family again after many years and to see that my great-niece has become such a beautiful and gifted young lady.

Adam, my nephew, and his wife, Liz, took us to this amazing bookshop in an ancient building (for America!) where they have three cats who live there and lazily greet the customers – if they feel like it, that is. I was in heaven and could have stayed all day wandering around all the nooks and crannies gazing at US books I’d never come across, as well as making a fuss of the cats. I found a fascinating book, a recently published best-seller about the American women codebreakers in the Second World War that I knew nothing about.

Although their working circumstances were more bearable than that of our girls who were working in freezing cold Huts at Bletchley Park, they worked just as hard and were just as successful as their British compatriots, not to mention they put up with the same kind of comments from the men as our girls did – that women were not suitable for that kind of work. For anyone interested in women working in the war on the other side of the pond, I can’t recommend it highly enough: Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy.

Talking of cats, I have another cat! I’ve been without Dougie for a whole year and was miserable but couldn’t have one until I’d finished my travels this year. But a week ago Bella was delivered. She’s another rescued cat, 13 years old, one eye, both ears lopped because of suspected cancer, skin allergy (mainly dealt with by special diet), arthritis, and very overweight. It wasn’t a surprise to be told I was the first one to enquire about her after I’d spotted her on the website where she stayed month after month.

Well, people who overlooked her don’t know what they’re missing. She’s the most lovable, sweetest cat I’ve ever known, and I’ve had some fabulous cats in my life. And her purr – it’s deafening! I told her she sounds like a Spitfire revving up. Her whole body, not to mention my lap and the sofa, vibrates! If I can get her weight down gradually, she’s going to live a really good life. I can’t wait to introduce her to my garden as she hasn’t been outside for many months and keeps looking wistfully through my patio doors.

And my last piece of news is that my garden office is nearly finished. My two incredibly talented builders (I call them ‘the boys’) have created it in the shape of a carriage on a steam train! Inside, is a First Class compartment which leads to the office. I love old trains and my heroines are always travelling on them in my wartime novels, so when I move my temporary office out to my carriage this week I will have a perfect atmosphere to work in. Photos for you to see in next post.

The only thing left for me to say is that the third Bletchley Park book in the series: Wartime Wishes at Bletchley Park is out on 23^rd November. Here’s the cover so do look out for it.

I wish you all happy reading in what at this minute appears to be an extended summer.

Spring Travels

Leave a Reply

The US cover for Winter Wedding at Bletchley Park

These last few weeks I’m back in travelling mode. In April I kicked off with a visit to Dorchester to be with two of my writing pals, Gail Aldwin and Suzanne Goldring. Unfortunately, Carol McGrath, one of our foursome called the Vestas, couldn’t make it (she was on her own travels).

We’re all published writers covering a variety of genres and take these retreats seriously by being disciplined in progressing with our current work and stopping in the afternoons to read out our chapters and critique them. That’s probably the most valuable part of our working holiday and it didn’t disappoint as my goal was to write the very first chapter of my next novel. Result! However, it needs some strict restructuring and editing but it’s normal for this beginning stage.

Then in May my sister, Carole, and I went to Yorkshire on a steam train holiday with Inside Track. They are a small family business and pay attention to detail, besides having great characters for tour guides. My interest in trains of the 30s was sated by wandering round steam train sheds where you could watch mainly retired men at work restoring the carriages, trying out compartments in first and third class carriages at a super train museum (the third class was absolutely luxurious compared with our first class today) and speaking to all sorts of volunteers that knew everything there was to know about steam trains. Not only do I love them – and miss travelling on them as I used to when a child and teenager – but I write Second World War novels and my heroines are always boarding and alighting from trains, sometimes in highly dangerous situations.

I have a very personal interest in the details of the exterior and interior of a wartime train in that my two builder/craftsmen are building me a railway carriage in my garden. The minute they finish, two-thirds of it will become my office where I’ll be writing my next novels! The other third will be designed and fitted out like half a first-class compartment. (Note the authentic train door propped against the wall.) That’s where I’ll do my proofreading, dream up the next obstacle to throw at my heroine, and maybe even have a nap. I can’t wait. There will be updates!

Progress so far on ‘the carriage’!

My next travel on the agenda is to go with Carole to the States at the end of this month to visit her son, Adam, and his family in the South. Covid has prevented her from seeing them all during the last years so we intend to make up for lost time. They recently moved to Savannah in Georgia which has to be one of my favourite cities.

I think that’s it for now. Spring, weatherwise, has been a bit of a let-down, though the countryside looks beautiful and green. Summer is just around the corner when I’ll be back from the US ready to give you another update.

Happy reading and writing!

Molly