I have always worked in health care, and like so many other parents, hit a tiny crisis a few years ago when I felt that my purpose in life had narrowed to not an awful lot more than dashing between my two jobs and being a mummy taxi.
I managed to find time to begin singing with a choir, and that helped me feel that I might have a more creative side to myself. One evening, my husband was out and, quite suddenly, I decided to Start Writing. I immediately hit the first obstacles of terrible handwriting and a broken laptop, so my writing career began that night in bed, typing into the note section of my smart phone, with no clear idea of what I wanted to say but resulting in a severe case of RSI and several short stories over the next few nights.
My husband was delighted that I had suddenly found this passion and kept encouraging me to write a novel, which I really felt I did NOT have in me. Later that summer, however, we were walking along a D-Day beach for no other grander reason than our ferry home from France being late, and I began telling our kids about my three great-uncles who were part of that day, and my grandmother who sewed parachutes for the paratroopers jumping over Normandy. Neil looked at me and smiled and said, ‘you do actually have a story there, you know….’
Walking Wounded was written over a period of a year, on a tiny tablet which I bought specifically because it fitted into my handbag – as I said, ‘if it’s not with me at all times, this just won’t happen.’ I wrote every day in 10 minute bursts while I sat in the school car-park waiting for my daughter to emerge from school, I wrote parked outside ballet lessons and maths lessons, I wrote early in the mornings while everyone was asleep.
Walking Wounded is a war story and family saga, focusing on those left behind whilst their men folk went to war, how they survived and how their relationships evolved through periods of violence, loss and reunion. The main story is about May, a young woman struggling to find her own identity as the youngest in a large family, forced into a stormy marriage through a mistake she is too proud to admit, and explores the web of loyalty, guilt and duty that shaped the decisions of the women awaiting the return of their men-folk as WW2 draws to a close. Spanning the period from the Armistice of the Great War to the exodus of the Ten Pound Poms to Australia in the 1950s, its internal violence is mirrored by the world stage upon which it is set.
My latest book is due for release on 1st June 2022, to honour the anniversary of Dunkirk. Beyond Time and Tide is set in the local area between Christchurch Harbour and the New Forest, and tells the story of three young people who are literally thrown together in the waters of Dunkirk. The book follows their lives to the present day, telling the story of how each one came to be there, and the friendships, loves, loyalties and mistrust which grew up amongst them.
Elsie, a young English girl, struggling to keep her family safe and desperate to rescue her brother from the beaches.
Monique, a French farmer, running from the untold damage done unto her by German soldiers, with no plan but to get away from the German army and the home they defiled.
Josef, a German soldier who has committed an offence to his own honour, and deserting the German army for whom he will no longer fight.
Three young people whose lives become intertwined in a way that will change each of them forever.
Beyond Time and Tide follows their struggle to survive their past: love, friendship and betrayal, and an onward quest to find redemption and what was lost to them all.
I am also very proud to have contributed to the Help4Heroes books produced by the wonderful editor, Emma Mitchell, with all proceeds going to this worthy charity. . I was invited to submit a short story for the first book, When Stars Will Shine, which I found very exciting as this was how I first started writing. Even more exciting was to have my story selected for publication, as well as being asked to submit another, which has subsequently been published in The Stars Will Shine Again. I has been such an honour to be part of these incredible books, and, rubbing shoulders with known and respected authors. I do hope you will buy them and enjoy reading each individual story.
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