Tag Archives: Historical

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

Accidents will happen!

7 Replies

Since I wrote my Spring blogpost, it must have only been days later that I had a horrible accident. I’m almost too ashamed to tell you what happened. I was doing a Pilates exercise in the kitchen showing off to my friend that even at my age I could stand on one leg for more than the 10 seconds Dr Michael Mosley said we should do whilst cleaning our teeth. I dropped my leg down after about 30 seconds of near-perfect balance and told my friend I could have gone on longer. So far so good.

Then she said, ‘Have you ever tried it with your eyes closed?’ I hadn’t. But instead of grounding myself first and making sure there was something solid close by – just in case – I simply closed eyes and raised leg at the same time, immediately overbalancing backwards. Trying to save myself, I slid helplessly across the floor, ending in a heap by the sink. From there it was the ambulance to the A&E and an X-ray. The doctor informed me I had a tiny hairline crack in one of my vertebrae. I said, ‘That’s good, it’ll soon heal then.’ She said, ‘Unfortunately, it’s enough to give you severe pain for the next few weeks, and then it will be 6 months getting back to normal and could even take up to a year.’ Grrrrr. I’m giving it 6 months max.

The good thing is that after the first fortnight, I’m writing as much every day as I usually do. In fact, my writing has been the one thing that stopped me from slumping into despair. With the help of a steady supply of painkillers at the beginning, I could lose myself in my characters and the many problems I threw at them. I am also exceptionally lucky to have my dear group of friends, close at hand, who cook for me, chauffeur me, and generally keep me cheerful. And I’m sure I wouldn’t have recovered this much by now if it wasn’t for Emily, my fantastic physiotherapist turning up every week at my house and showing me Pilates exercises, pressing into the trigger points and having me shouting with agony, then giving me a heavenly massage. This has not been via the NHS – they said I had to wait 5 weeks and then go to Brighton for just three sessions. But as I could hardly move, I couldn’t see how I could manage any kind of transport. Enough of that!

My latest book, Wartime Secrets at the Mayfair Club, has just been published (Tesco is selling the special Fern Britton recommendation with extra material at the back), so it’s exciting to see it fly from my computer to the shelves. My fictional club is modelled on the beautiful Georgian building that accommodates the University Women’s Club (UWC) in Mayfair, London, of which I’ve been a member for over 30 years. It was open every day to its 1500 members right through the Blitz until the end of the war, providing shelter and friendship as it still does today. Thankfully, the Club wasn’t bombed although some nearby buildings were damaged or destroyed.

But it was the lamp post a few feet away from the entrance that I’d just discovered held a wartime secret which gave me the inspiration to write this book. This time I’ve cautiously dipped my toe into spy world and absolutely loved writing it, even though I kept hearing the voice of Emma, my editor, in my ears saying, ‘Don’t make this a spy novel, Molly.’ Surprised, I answered, ‘No, of course not – I wouldn’t know how.’ I will leave it to you, the Reader, to judge whether I (more or less) kept to my word.

If you’re anywhere near Lewes on Saturday, 25th July at 2.30, I’m giving a talk at Ringmer Village Hall on some of the wild and wonderful research I do for my novels It’s only a fiver and that includes tea and homemade cakes. A real bargain, though I modestly say it myself!

Molly Green holding Wartime Secrets at the Mayfair Club in Tesco, Lewes

People sometimes ask which book has been my favourite to write. I’ve loved writing every single one but if I have to choose, it’s always the one I’m writing at this very moment! This happens to take place deep within a disused underground station in 1940 and I’m enjoying the research and the writing immensely. This one will be out in the summer of 2027.

So for now, settle down on a sunbed with a large hat to shade your face, and a long, cool drink topped with one of those little floating umbrellas by your side, relax and enjoy a wonderful summer of reading – and if you begin to drift, I give you full permission to close your eyes . . . but be sure to have something solid close by to hold onto!

Molly Green

Merry Christmas to you all!

7 Replies

Christmas tree I think this every year, but how can it possibly be almost Christmas? Where has the year gone?

However, this has proved a very difficult year for me with my sister, Carole, being seriously ill for the first six months and then most of the last part of this year recovering, but she’s in much better shape now which is a huge relief. I was happy to be in the audience watching and listening to her singing carols in her local Lewes choir. What a wonderful recovery she’s made.

But last month, I fell over onto my face, my cheek slamming onto the tarmac outside Clapham Junction, of all places, on the way to see my 96-year-old aunt in a care home in Wandsworth.

When I walked into the foyer bleeding hand, swollen and bruised eye and cheek, sprained wrist and very shaken, I asked if they had a vacant room I could sign for! They did rush a nurse over to see me and she patched me up, assuring me I hadn’t broken anything. So quite honestly, I shan’t be too upset to see the back end of this year and can say that managing to do some writing whenever I had a spare hour helped keep me – well, sane.

But it’s not all been bad. It’s always exciting to have a new book out and my latest, The Wartime Librarian’s Secret, was published in June. Just after that date, I gave a talk at the University Women’s Club in Mayfair on some iconic buildings I’ve used in my novels. I finished by telling the audience that my next book would be set in this very club where I’ve been a member for over 30 years.

Its title is Wartime Secrets at the Mayfair Club with the strapline The Mayfair Ladies’ Club survived the Blitz – but can it survive betrayal? and will be out on 4th June 2026. I’ve just submitted it to my editor at Avon HarperCollins.

I also can’t believe I’ve had my little rescue cat, Betsy, for almost a year. She settled in very quickly, but she never comes to my railway carriage in the garden where I write, the way my previous cat used to. She put her head in the door once, and walked up and down once, and that was it. She prefers to sleep in her own bedroom – on the guest bed, of course.

Photo of Betsy the cat

There’s only one more thing to say, Dear Reader – whenever Christmas gets on top of you, tuck into a quiet corner with a new book and I guarantee after an hour (if you can get away with it) you will feel refreshed and ready to face it all again.

New Cat, New Editor and New Book

2 Replies

I feel awful not having written anything on this blog since the beginning of the year. It’s been a very worrying time, owing to my sister, Carole, being dangerously ill whilst waiting for a heart operation. She’s finally had the surgery and is now back in her own home after five whole months away. I’m so relieved and happy to report that she is doing remarkably well and has recovered her independence.

However, I have some catching up to do in my writing, not only on the current work in progress, but here on my blog, so I do hope you are still around and reading this one. As the title suggests, life has to carry on whatever the difficulties.

Betsy

In January, the local rescue centre rang to see if I would be interested in a mature cat who came in over Christmas and needed a loving home. Of course, I said yes, as I missed my little Bella terribly. Already left with only one eye and lopped ears from tumours when she lived with her previous owner, Bella was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue. Going to sleep permanently was a release for her. Now, Betsy, a tabby, has come to live with me. She has the same gentle nature as Bella, but what a different character. She acts like she’s two instead of ten, always jumping and rushing and demanding. But by the sound of her purr when she’s on my lap, she loves being with me and I love having her.

In May, my editor rang to say she was leaving Avon HarperCollins and going alone as a freelance editor. I’ve had many different editors in the past decade. They’ve all been extremely professional as well as warm and friendly but it’s always a bit concerning to have to begin with a new editor as they play an important part in an author’s career. I shouldn’t have worried. I’ve met Billy, my new editor, on Zoom who comes across in the usual Avon style with enthusiasm and efficiency, so I’m hoping this will prove a good relationship for both of us.

Many people tell me that their summer holiday is the only time they manage to read, so I’d like to mention my new book, out on 17^th July, called The Wartime Librarian’s Secret. This time, I’ve modelled the setting on the famous country house, Longleat, near Bath. I think some of its fame comes from the highly regarded safari park – in fact, I read in a recent travel article in the Telegraph about the best leisure parks in the country and Longleat won hands down as the overall winner. However, during the war the safari park didn’t exist. What did exist was a temporary military hospital in the grounds and therein lay a perfect foil to my heroine’s new place of work in the mansion itself. I won’t say anything further, but I hope this snippet has whetted your interest.

If you’ve only been to the Safari Park at Longleat, I urge you to walk round the stunning house, and even better if you can join a guided tour with one of the knowledgeable staff, where you’ll learn some fascinating historical details, some of which I’ve incorporated in this latest novel.

Happy reading throughout what I hope will prove a wonderful summer.

Molly

Where I write

3 Replies

Well, summer has endeavoured to arrive on a number of occasions but just as suddenly disappeared into pouring rain, but this week looks much warmer and drier. My rain garden is quite happy though and the flowers and grasses have shot up. The exciting thing for me in the garden is the flowering of my three newly planted magnolia trees. They’re the ones I remember when I lived in Georgia, USA some decades ago. When the flowers are fully out, they look like gorgeous creamy-white satin bows.

Those of you who read my posts know that I do my writing in my railway carriage, specially built by my two artisan builders. Here is the latest photograph taken when the flowers first bloomed in early ‘summer’. I still haven’t got over the novelty of sitting in the First-Class compartment, having my coffee or cup of tea, reading over the latest chapter or one of my research books, then walking through the partition into the office section where the ‘real’ work continues.

My latest novel: Courage for the Cabinet Girl is out next month, 26^th September. My heroine, Katie, trained as a secretary and wanting to do her bit in the war, grasps the opportunity to work in the mysterious underground maze of the Cabinet War Rooms, not realising at first that this is where Winston Churchill directed the entire Second World War. I’ve really enjoyed writing this particular novel (actually, I’ve loved writing all of them!) because Mr Churchill plays a leading part – he would, wouldn’t he? It’s been such fun writing dialogue in the way he used to speak to various members of the staff, his idiosyncratic and volatile personality bursting through, all too often to the chagrin of the recipient.

I’m giving a talk on the novel and how I did my research on publication day itself at Waterstones in Lewes on Thursday, 26^th September, from 6 -7pm. If you happen to be in the area, I’d love it if you could join us, as meeting my readers is so rewarding and spurs me on to write the next novel! The event is bookable through Waterstones website and the £5 ticket price will be deducted from the price of the book, should you decide to buy one. And just today the manager told me he would provide a welcoming glass of wine!

Hope to see some of you there.

Molly’s carriage in summer

Until next time, happy reading.

Molly Green

Marching into Spring

1 Reply

Good morning, everyone. It’s hard to believe it’s almost spring when I look out of my office window where rain is hurtling down and it’s still cold. But I’m lovely and toasty in my railway carriage where I write.

Bella, my elderly rescued cat, finally plucked up the courage to come and see me in the carriage and when she visits, she likes to jump onto the train seat. I’ve prepared it in advance for any wet paws by unfolding an old sheet across it. She then curls up to nap for a few hours (that’s her definition of a nap!) until I emerge needing coffee. (photo attached)

I’ve written the first draft of a new novel which I’ve just finished editing for the umpteenth time. This last edit was serious as it was the one my critique writing partner, thriller and historical fiction writer Alison Morton, meticulously went through, leaving a trail of red-penned alterations and suggestions.

My heroine, Katie, is a secretary, nursing a devastating personal secret, and lands a job in Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall. It’s a wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere for a novelist to explore and perfect for secrets to be kept under wraps (though not always successfully!) and romantic liaisons to develop!

I’m thinking about the next novel after this. As an author, it’s wise to have at least one good idea ahead of your current one. This time, the setting will be on a country estate, requisitioned for more than one other purpose. Because of the war, a twist of fate will bring my new heroine and hero into contact with one another. That’s all I’m up to in my head and I have to trust myself that I can write it and my publishers will eventually transform it into an engaging historical novel.

This requires lots of research but I can’t pretend

it’s a chore. I love research. I’ve learnt so much about the women I write who did unusual jobs in the Second World War, mostly through their published memoirs, so I’m confident I’m writing straight from the heart on behalf of these marvellous women. And my goodness, the more I uncover, the more there is to learn! But if by reading my novels, a reader gains some insight into the kinds of difficult situations these women, sometimes still in their ‘teens, faced, then I consider my job worthwhile.

And lastly, if anyone lives in the Wandsworth area and would like to come to my talk on Bletchley Park to be held on 4^th April in the Avery Care Home, do get in touch.

That’s it from me. Happy reading!

Molly Green

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

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?

Moving slowly forward…

Leave a Reply

It’s been another hectic month for me, what with viewings on my house which recently went on the market and accepting an offer within days, then a week later falling through, so more viewings and several offers, I’m hoping the estate agent (my ex-company!) has finally produced the right family who’ll stick with it until the proposed exchange and completion next month.

Getting rid of stuff that won’t fit into a smaller place is a job in itself. I’m really hopeful that I’ll soon be moving from Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells – where I’ve been perfectly happy for 30 or so years – to Ringmer, near Lewes. Now I’m on my own, I want a change. My sister moved to Lewes a year ago and loves it so I bought a place needing a full renovation just two miles away. She’s become my project manager and slowly, mostly because of so many delivery delays, it’s taking shape.

I’ve had to sell or give away stuff to friends, donate to charities, tag items for auction – mostly my late husband’s myriad collections, furniture and over a thousand books that I can’t cope with (I’ve kept around 100 of Edward’s books because he had an amazing variety of reference books on the Second World War which I mostly write about), and generally declutter. All difficult decisions.

And the third thing that’s keeping me busy is that I’ve managed to finish my second novel in The Bletchley Park Girls series. This one is called A Winter Wedding at Bletchley Park. I now have it back from the editor for me to look at her suggestions and do another full edit. I like this part of the process because every change I make will ensure a better book. But it takes a lot of thought with even small alterations as these can still ripple through the novel causing more read-throughs and checks to be made.

My current novel, the first in the series: Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park, was published at the end of April, and I’m thrilled to say that last week on Amazon it made No 1 in both paperback and kindle version in the category ‘Military Romance’. I couldn’t believe it when I read it one evening just before getting ready for bed, but here’s the proof:

At the time of writing, the e-book is on sale for just 99 pence.

As well as editing, and after three attempts to write Chapter One of the third book in the Bletchley Park series, I’ve finally settled on where I think the opening should take place. But even my lovely editor at HarperCollins doesn’t know this yet, so I’ll keep it under wraps for the time being. It will probably change again anyway when I get right into the thick of the characters and the plotting.

Well, I’d better bring this to a close and carry on with the edits of Winter Wedding as although publication day is not until 24^th November, I notice it’s already on Amazon for pre-order! That’s a good enough incentive to crack on.

Enjoy the lovely summer weather we are about to have and hope to see you next month. Happy reading!