Tag Archives: book ideas

Cats and Books – what a combination!

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

Synchronicity gone berserk!

Leave a Reply

Molly Green looking surprised!

When you’re an author you rarely know the impact one of your books might have on a reader. I recently had a Canadian lady contact me through this website and this is what happened. (She has given me permission to use it in its entirety for my blog.):

Hello Molly,
Greetings from Canada.
I just purchased your novel “An Orphan in the Snow” to give as a gift.
I felt I had to write to you and explain the circumstances surrounding the purchase.It was on a shelf in a bookstore. For some reason my eye went to it and no others. I feel that synchronicity was at play and I think you will agree when I explain.
I have a friend who is celebrating her birthday on February 13 and I was out today looking for a birthday gift for her. The bookstore visit was for myself as I am an avid reader. However I had to purchase your book for her BECAUSE her name is JUNE LAVENDER and her grandmother came to Canada in the early 1900’s as one of Dr Barnardo’s children! You definitely wrote this book for June.
I cannot tell you how excited I was when I read the inside flap of your book and saw the connection to the main.character. I cannot wait to give her the book and see the look on her face. We were born in 1940 (me) and 1943 (June) so we are both products of WWII and remember the stories our parents told us about the war.
I just wanted to let you know how happy you have made me, the giver and June, who will soon receive it. As I said, SYNCHRONICITY at work…I was destined to find that book.Be assured we will now both be reading more and more of your books.
Carleen

These coincidences are quite amazing, but for me it was the first one I couldn’t take in. Imagine wanting to treat yourself to a new novel and you’re in a bookshop facing shelves of fiction. Your eye goes to only one book which you take down from the shelf. What could have made Carleen’s eye go to mine amongst scores – even hundreds of others? It really was as though she was fated to pick that one. We’ve exchanged quite a few emails since then where another coincidence came to light. Canadian June’s father was in a wheelchair, and my fictitious one was, too, though he was faking it.

Tragically, June recently lost her only daughter and Carleen told me her friend is really enjoying my book which is managing to distract her for an hour or so whenever she picks it up. I’m not ashamed to say it brought a tear to my eye and I feel incredibly humbled that my story was able to give her a little relief – even though only in the minutest way.

Here is a photograph of the ‘real’ June Lavender (who gave me permission to use it).

Other news is that today I finished the first big round of edits for my third novel which completes The Bletchley Park series. There will be several more full edits but I find this particular stage is the most tricky as I needed to fill in some gaps of information where I was shaky at the time of writing and which could only be achieved by further research. Then I had to spot any continuity howlers, and finally determine whether I really had an entertaining and hopefully informative historical story that hung together. I will do the easy bit of grammar, punctuation, typos, tautologies, weak adjectives . . . the list goes on . . . during the next round of edits.

The publishers have just come up with the new title (not yet to be revealed) but Bletchley Park Book 3 should be on the shelves by the end of November – just in time for you know what! Hopefully, when you’re looking for a gift for yourself or a friend, your eye will go to my latest novel out of all the other hundreds of authors, just as Carleen’s in her local bookshop in Canada did!

See you in April when we’ll have longer, lighter days which will hopefully put a spring in our step.

Molly

Not all Greek to me!

Leave a Reply

What a month! The builders are still finishing the renovations to my house, I’m pressing on with Book 3 of The Bletchley Park Girls and have recently returned from a fortnight’s holiday abroad – the first in three years.

The holiday incorporated the Mani Literary Festival in Stoupa, a beautiful village in Greece where I was invited to speak. It was a 2-day event straddling September and October. Two other writing friends, Carol McGrath, and Suzanne Goldring were also asked. We all flew out to Kalamata the day before and settled in quickly as we know the area, courtesy of Carol who has a house close by and has regularly invited us to stay.

One of the restaurants in the village offers its delightful gardens to the Lit Fest every year so the talks took place outside in perfect weather – very warm and sunny but not boiling hot. Each of us was invited to tutor a workshop and give a talk relating to our books. I decided to do the 2-hour workshop on Memoir Writing in the morning and in the afternoon spend the allotted hour discussing Bletchley Park.

I thoroughly enjoyed giving the workshop, where I had nine women and one man round the table, showing them through examples of my own two memoirs how to tackle them, and letting the attendees have time to do my set exercises and read them out. People’s lives are nothing short of fascinating, even though several of them apologised for not having done anything particularly exciting.

‘It’s like jokes,’ I told them. ‘It’s not the content – it’s the way you tell ’em.’

Suzanne Goldring and me after our talk

Then in the afternoon Suzanne interviewed me about using Bletchley Park as a setting for my series. I explained that the story wouldn’t have worked in any other location and had become a character in its own right. They were a very attentive audience of about 50 and several people asked me questions at the end, but it was surprising to learn that so few had ever visited the Park. I told them Hitler said the Enigma would be impossible to crack as you’d need 10,000 people to do it and asked them how many staff they thought ended up at Bletchley Park. They were surprised to learn it was 10,000!

‘And when you visit you’ll get a good idea of what took place as you wander through the various Huts and Blocks,’ I continued. ‘The atmosphere plunges you right into the Second World War and you get a real sense as to how it must have felt for all those who tirelessly worked there. It’s been calculated many times that Bletchley Park shaved two years off the duration of the war, besides saving hundreds of thousands of lives, so I do urge you to experience it for yourself.’

I had two copies of the first book of my series: Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park to give away. When I said: ‘The first person to put up their hand—’ a lady sitting in the front row immediately shot her hand up. I wagged my finger at her. ‘You don’t even know what you’re volunteering for.’ To much laughter, she said, ‘I’m happy to take the risk.’ So I handed her a book but she said, ‘I’ve read this one,’ and gave it back to me, saying she’d read all my books and loved every one. What a thrill to meet such a fan. She came up to me afterwards and said I’d kept her sanity! She’d been going through a rough time with her family and my books had given her an hour or two’s reprieve at night.

Margaret, if you happen to be reading this, I do hope you won’t mind my telling it, but that’s what we authors hope will happen when we write our books. They can provide not only an escape from our problems but sometimes even throw a light on how we might overcome or resolve them in real life.

As writers we usually never have the chance to know the impact our stories are having when they go out into the world. It’s quite humbling, when you think about it, but it’s the most rewarding part of the whole process – that the reader loves what we do. You can’t ask for more.

Happy writing to all the new Mani memoir writers!

And until next month, happy reading!

Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park is out now.

September 1939. London is in blackout, war has been declared, but Dulcie (Dale) Treadwell can think only of American broadcaster, Glenn Reeves, who didn’t say goodbye before leaving for Berlin.

Heartbroken, Dulcie is posted to Bletchley Park, where she must concentrate instead on cracking the German Enigma codes. The hours are long and the conditions tough, with little recognition from above. Until she breaks her first code…

But when a spiteful act of jealousy leads to Dulcie’s brutal dismissal, her life is left in pieces once more. Is it too late for Dulcie to prove her innocence and keep the job she loves? And will her heart ever truly heal if she doesn’t hear from Glenn again…?

A Winter Wedding at Bletchley Park will be published on 24^th November this year.

When Rosie Frost was jilted on her wedding day, she didn’t think life could get any worse. But six years later in the throes of the Second World War, she is unceremoniously dismissed from her dream job after they discover her illegitimate child.

Thankfully, top secret war office Bletchley Park recognises Rosie’s talent and recruits her to decipher their Italian naval signals. Happy to be doing her bit for the war effort, Rosie settles into her new life.

But when she spots a familiar face at the Park, Rosie’s world threatens to come crashing down once more. Can she put her heartbreak behind her? And will wedding bells ring out across Bletchley Park before the year is out?

Where do those ideas come from?

Leave a Reply

1931 advertisement (Public domain)

Readers are always asking where I get my ideas. Well, I have to confess that the setting for the first trilogy would never have been my immediate thought.

This was a request by Avon HarperCollins who’d just offered me a 3-book deal! In fact, they gave me four words to write these three books: Dr Barnardo’s, Liverpool, orphans, and WW2.

After the initial euphoria I had a complete wobbly. The only recognisable request was the period. That was fine. But I knew little about Dr Barnardo, only that he was more than just an observer of society in the 19th century, and especially of children, but set up a home to take in homeless boys and give them a chance in life. Well, I guessed I could do some more research on him. But three books set in a Dr Barnado’s home – filled with children?

I don’t have any children and am rarely around them. How would I know how children felt, spoke, learnt, misbehaved, interacted – and orphans would have many more problems to deal with. Lastly, I’d never been to Liverpool, and to be honest it didn’t really appeal. I was beginning to think my dearest wish of being published by my dream publisher was doomed before it had even taken off! Anyway, they left me to think about whether I would accept the offer to write The Dr Barnardo’s Trilogy.

Fortunately, my small group of writing friends brought me to my senses and made me ring the editor immediately saying I’d be delighted. I now had to find out everything I could through books and a visit to Liverpool. To my amazement I found Liverpool a fantastic city with some of the friendliest people I’d ever come across. But since the city was the most heavily bombed after London during the war, much was destroyed. However, enough buildings remained for me to take notes of the places where my heroine grew up, and the museums were invaluable to capture the period.

Liverpool 1946 Public domain (https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW001918)

Back home, I watched old films to see the way children behaved and spoke, but mostly I wrote almost instinctively, imagining I was that child.

The next trilogy was entirely my own idea. I wanted to write about three sisters doing completely different jobs in the war effort. I knew them quite well as characters but had no idea what they would set out to do. Then I watched a TV programme about Mary Ellis, at 101 years of age describing her time as a pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary, delivering aeroplanes, including Spitfires, to the fighter pilots. Perfect for independent Raine, the eldest sister!

The middle sister, Suzanne, was musical, so I knew she would join ENSA – that’s the Entertainment National Service Association – and like my heroine, Vera Lynn, would sing to the troops abroad.

The idea for the youngest sister, Ronnie, a tomboy, came late in the day. I wanted something unusual and came across an article about young girls and women carrying cargo from London to Birmingham on the Grand Union Canal in the Second World War. Apparently, the work was so backbreaking, only about 40 of them ever did this work. It would be just up Ronnie’s street.

To complete the family would be a prickly French mother who the girls called ‘Maman’.

Now I’m writing a new series. A tingle shot right through me as my editor said the words ‘Bletchley Park’. I jumped at it. I’d been to Bletchley Park three times over the last 20 years, so it wasn’t unfamiliar territory. However, I knew it would be difficult for me to get to grips with all the code-breaking, but the many books I bought and borrowed played a huge part in my research.

In between the current pandemic restrictions, I managed a day trip with a historical tutor, and this propelled my new heroine to life in that most secret of buildings. More next month about The Bletchley Park Girls!

On that note, I do hope the New Year has all good things – including plenty of fabulous books – in store for you