I have submitted!!!
The Spirit of an Idle Woman - working title.
A timeslip novel set in 1944, WW2 Britain and present day.
Finally, I have completed the first draft of my manuscript and have submitted it to my lovely agent, Broo Doherty. She has sent it to publishers and I am now neck deep in that awful nail biting period where I can only wait and see.
Let’s hope that a lovely editor likes timeslip, WW2, uplift and a sprinkle of real events 🤞
The lightbulb moment…
While watching a film set in WW2 I began to think how different thinking was in that era from the way we think now. In many ways things have changed for the better but in many other ways things were better back then. I wanted to take present day and the wonderful wartime spirit and allow the two to meet.
Gathering ideas…
To enable the two eras to meet I needed to create the basis for a hint of the other worldly. I love exploring the idea that the passing of time, or the passing over of souls isn’t necessarily the end. That we can all still learn from those who have gone before.
I wanted my couple from present day to have undergone the same experience that a couple had experienced back in 1944. Although the modern world has so much to offer in terms of medication, facilities, knowledge and progressive thinking, my couple from the war lived in a time where strength of character was everything. The present has a lot to learn from the past.
With this in mind I wanted a setting. A hospital - but the same hospital, past and present. I wanted a real character from the past - one who made significant changes for the future. I wanted to explore the hardy characters of wartime women and so, researched the women of the waterways, the hardships and triumphs.
I wanted love, endurance and, ultimately, success.
If this seems vague, it’s supposed to be. No spoilers please!
Research…
With thanks to characters from the past, (some of which feature below) Ben at Stoke Mandeville Hospital’s National Heritage Centre, museums on the waterways of England, Aylesbury Archives, the library (of course) the good old internet, oh and the mass of words and thoughts that whir around my head, I finally wrote and finished my idea for this novel.
National Heritage Centre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital
A little place with a huge wealth of information.
Thank you, Ben, for all your time regarding the wartime history of this hospital and subsequent progress for humanity.
Wartime Rations
Powdered egg anyone?
This shop assistant didn’t have a lot to say - but I did my best.
However, the shop she worked in was very enlightening in terms of produce available during wartime Britain rationing.
Interview with the Station Master
This chap was able to help me with rail travel in the 1940’s. I’m not accustomed to people smoking a pipe during an interview but it did give him an air of authority on the matter.
Interview with Nurse Briggs
Very informative. Lots to say about hospitals in WW2. Thank you, nurse.
Gallery
Bringing the book to life…
