Historical Fiction

The Best World War Two Films and TV series for Complete Obsessives

For a World War Two obsessive there’s no greater event for me than finding a wonderful new novel set in this period or a history podcast I can devour. But if I want a real feast for the senses—a real visual indulgence in WW2 nostalgia, I delve into the wonder… Read More

How My First Trip to Morocco Changed Everything

It had begun like any last minute away break – booking a cheap Easyjet flight to Marrakech, a trip to Boots for travel stuff and the bank machine for some cash, last minute packing, and a 3am taxi to Gatwick with my friend Marilyn (the friend who’d strong-armed me to… Read More

Many Moons Ago…

I was born in 1943, during World War II, so I was a teenager in the 1950s, which was before teenagers or the term ‘youth culture’ had been invented. Of course, teenagers had always existed, there’d just never been a name for them before the Swinging Sixties. Read More

A Woman of War

A Woman of War It’s an old adage, but one that sits well with me: ‘write what you know’. As a midwife of almost twenty years, it is a good part of my world, and so when I came full circle in my writing – having been a journalist in… Read More

Christmas in 1943

Christmas in 1943 When Avon asked me if I would write a post for their website on what Christmas was like in 1943 – the year my latest book, An Orphan’s Wish, is set in – I automatically said yes. However, it’s a rather gloomy subject because the war was… Read More

How to grow and use your own herbs

The dictionary defines a herb as a plant ‘of which the leaves or stem and leaves are used for medicine or for their scent or flavour’. Many of our most common herbs arrived in the UK with the Romans and they were the only form of medicine that we had… Read More

Writing Her Hidden Life

As I point out in my Author’s Note for the book, the idea for Her Hidden Life came from an Associated Press article published in April 2013. The true story of a woman, Margot Woelk, who tasted Adolf Hitler’s food to protect him from poisoning captured my imagination and spurred… Read More

Researching an Orphan’s War

When Avon suggested I write a series of novels set in Liverpool in a Dr Barnardo’s orphanage in the Second World War I was filled with trepidation. The last bit was fine – I’ve always been very interested in that period, and had done loads of research for one of… Read More