Ask the Author: Deborah Burrows
Answered Questions (9)
Deborah Burrows
Hi Layla - I hope you enjoy Maisie's story as much as Lily's and Celia's. No, for the time being at least, I've said goodbye to my ambulance girls.
The good news is that I'll be writing a pair of books set in the dangerous world of the Special Operations Executive in WW2. Churchill instructed the SOE to 'set Europe ablaze' and the girls who were sent into occupied France were incredibly brave. They'll find danger and true friendship and, of course, romance. So, in 2020...
The good news is that I'll be writing a pair of books set in the dangerous world of the Special Operations Executive in WW2. Churchill instructed the SOE to 'set Europe ablaze' and the girls who were sent into occupied France were incredibly brave. They'll find danger and true friendship and, of course, romance. So, in 2020...
Deborah Burrows
That's a hard one! I think I'd like to visit the Regency "Pride and Prejudice" world, but only if I wasn't a servant!
What would I do there? Dance and take lots and lots of notes.
(I'm tempted by Middle Earth, but given my height, I'd be mistaken for a hobbit. Still, The Shire might be fun also to visit.)
What would I do there? Dance and take lots and lots of notes.
(I'm tempted by Middle Earth, but given my height, I'd be mistaken for a hobbit. Still, The Shire might be fun also to visit.)
Deborah Burrows
The story of my grandfather's disappearance some time in the late 1940s. There is a family story that he became a merchant seaman and died in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but no one knows. My grandmother had divorced him (presumably for desertion) and he just slipped out of the lives of his (mostly) grown-up children.
Now, what about the story of a young woman in late 1940s Australia whose father disappeared in mysterious circumstances. She receives a parcel from a foreign land. When she opens it inside is a beautiful star sapphire and a letter... and a mystery unfolds.
Now, what about the story of a young woman in late 1940s Australia whose father disappeared in mysterious circumstances. She receives a parcel from a foreign land. When she opens it inside is a beautiful star sapphire and a letter... and a mystery unfolds.
Deborah Burrows
I'm so sorry that I missed your question. I am inspired to write by many things. Ambulance Girls was inspired by an article i read in a newspaper of 1941, which was about the first Western Australian girl to be cited for extreme bravery in the London Blitz. I read the article and the character of Lily Brennan, the heroine of Ambulance Girls just appeared in my mind - and I needed to write her story. I wanted it to write about bravery in really tough times. I'd been talking to my father-in-law, who lived through the Sheffield Blitz and it set my imagination on fire. But I know London much better than Sheffield, so London it was!!
Deborah Burrows
I love the research - which is why I write historical,novels. But my main joy in writing is entering into the lives of my characters, discovering what 'makes them tick' and finding out about their worlds. It's hard to explain.
Deborah Burrows
I was reading articles from WW 2 in Trove, the wonderful National Library of Australia database of digitized newspapers. There was an article from 1941 about a 22 year old Australian female ambulance driver who was working throughout the Blitz. She received a medal for rescuing a family during an air raid. I thought she would be a great sort of character to write about. I always start with my characters.
Deborah Burrows
Never finish a book and think it's really finished! Put it away for a while and then take it out, dust it off and see what can be improved. A little distance from a ms is often really illuminating. If you can afford it, a good professional editor will give you the polish you may need to impress an agent or publisher.
Deborah Burrows
I just try to write my way through it. If you start writing anything, then usually inspiration will flow. Often I'll write scenes that are unlikely to make the final draft, but give me an understanding of my characters. It means I get out of the slump.
Deborah Burrows
A book set during the London Blitz. There were quite a few young Australian women working in London as ambulance drivers. My girl, Lily, is from the Eastern Goldfields in WA. She falls in love with a pilot and has to try to solve the mystery of a friend's disappearance, all the while driving her ambulance through the worst of the bombing.
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