Pam Lecky's Blog, page 15
September 18, 2021
New Release from Dianne Ascroft
A reunion weekend, a repeated crime, a fresh outcome: Lois Stone heads back to Toronto to visit friends for Thanksgiving weekend. When she interrupts a vicious mugging in the park where her husband was attacked and died, she vows to catch the assailant and return a treasured keepsake to the elderly victim.
Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3RJDoL
A little bit about Dianne …
Dianne Ascroft writes the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, set in rural Canada, as well as The Yankee Years, an historical fiction series set in WWII Northern Ireland. She has a passion for Ireland and Canada, past and present. An ex-pat Canadian, Dianne lives on a small farm in Fermanagh with her husband and an assortment of strong-willed animals. Online she lurks at https://www.dianneascroft.com.
September 3, 2021
A Conversation with Dominic Fielder
Today in the Library we have Dominic Fielder who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into his life as an author.
You are very welcome, Dominic, please introduce yourself:
I’ve held a variety of working posts, some I’ve been good at, and others appalling. Before the world of Marvel and DC became popular, I ran a comic book store and worked for my parents’ family book business (which ran for 61 years and only recently closed). Either side of that, I worked in the Banking and Insurance sector, when such jobs seemed glamourous, but really weren’t, and as a telephone sales and alarm services clerk, which never seemed glamourous but allowed me to meet some interesting characters.
I undertook a History degree and after achieving First class honours had a change of direction in life.
For the past ten years, I’ve become a tutor, specialising in Maths and English for students between years 5 and 11 (10 to 16 in old money). During lockdown, I moved my tuition to an on-line delivery whilst training to become a Secondary school Maths teacher. When I’m not doing those things, I try my best to be a reasonable father, and whatever free time is spare from those commitments, I give to writing.
The King’s Germans series that I’m now working on, is a twenty book and twenty plus year commitment. Fingers crossed, I will stay the course.
Which genre do you write in and what draws you to it?My genre is military history, set in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars.
One of the earliest memories that I have is of a writing bureau in the hallway of my home. It was an object that fascinated me, with its hidden compartments. Finding things in these was like discovering treasure, even if these were used envelopes or an old stationery book.
One day, in one of the central sections, I found a colour film brochure for Dino de Laurentiis’ film ‘Waterloo’. After that, my parents would frequently find me perched at the bottom of the staircase, gazing at the splendour of the uniforms, even if I couldn’t grasp the words.
It took a while for me to realise that the ‘splendour’ of those times was illusory, but by then I was hooked. When the military fiction series Sharpe came along, I felt as though they had been written just for me and I scoured the bookshelves of WH Smith looking for each new release. I was also fortunate that my family owned a second-hand book stall, so gems were always turning up there too. My hours spent there fuelled my love of reading and that wonder at the craft of story-telling.
I’d love to have that writing bureau now, but it has long since gone the way of all things. The wonder of the Napoleonic age has not left me though, and I hope that I can capture some of that in my stories.
Are you an avid reader? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?I am and I will often read outside of my genre. The books that I tend to read inside of the Napoleonic genre tend to be research based. My guilty pleasure is a bit of science fiction but often the joy of reading is to revisit an old friend and I’m quite habitual in reading works for a second or third (or umpteenth) time.
Are you a self-published/traditional or hybrid author?Currently self-published. I’d like to have an agent but I’m not sure that will ever happen.
The King’s Germans SeriesWho has been the biggest influence on your writing?Can I be rather cheeky and have three? If so, I’d like to claim Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe for, well just about everything that has followed on the writing front. But my absolute favourite author and a book I have read and reread before leaving primary school was Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. I wont ever have his style or craft but if I can make another person have the same feelings for my work, as I do for Dumas’, that’s not a bad trade. The last is that with each book, I apply the ‘Figures in a Landscape’ test (Barry England). This is a book that pitches you straight into the action. It made me want to read it, and every time I write, I try and set it as my litmus test.
What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?Only finding the time to write. I’m a prodigious planner, so I tend to know where a scene is heading. This doesn’t mean that scenes can’t surprise me, they often do. Characters tend to be a little rebellious at times and ideas can spring from the long grass and make you suddenly think…” Hang on, what happens if…”
If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?I would teach maths, my current day job! It’s a subject that I like to try and make fun and exciting, and to de-mystify.
If a movie was made of one of your books, who would you like to play the lead roles?I’m really rubbish at putting actors to match my characters. If ever it were to happen, I would like it to be a series of relatively unknown French and German actors. I do try and match my characters to people I know or actors from other eras. The photo I have of Erich von Bomm (who is 24 in my books), is of a young Michael York (circa 1973), so you can see why I’m hopelessly dated on modern actors!
If you could live the life of an historical figure for one day, who would you choose and what would you get up to?Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – I can’t play a musical instrument or converse in a foreign language so to be able to ‘see’ music in the way that he could and then write about it, in either German or Italian, would be beyond incredible.
Please tell us about your latest published work.
Queen of the Citadels takes place in Flanders during the autumn of 1793 and into the spring of 1794. It tells the stories of a series of characters, principally various ‘German’ soldiers (Hanoverians and Hessians) fighting in the service of George III in the war of the First Coalition against France. The stories are interwoven, and just to make things a little more complicated, there is a thread of French and British stories, so that you are swept along (hopefully) as the decisions taken in London and Paris, play out on the fields of Flanders.
This is a vast canvas, and whilst Sebastian Krombach is the character that most of the stories are written around currently, that might not always be the case. I deliberately avoided naming this series after a person, that merely signals their near immortality. The King’s Germans will see ‘main characters’ die, that’s the nature of war. And this is a story of love, war, revolution, politics, and all points in between. It’s also the third book in the series, The Black Lions of Flanders and the King of Dunkirk being books 1 and 2 respectively.
Whilst there is a degree of explanation of the backstory, reading Black Lions first would make more sense.
I do hope that one day you can make time to discover the series.
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Citadels-Kings-Germans-Book-ebook/dp/B08X3SS947
If you would like to know more about Dominic and his books please follow the links below:August 20, 2021
New Release from Annie Whitehead
(Release date Sep 15th, on pre-order now): http://mybook.to/TSOF
A father’s legacy can be a blessing or a curse…
AD658: The sons of Penda of Mercia have come of age. Ethelred, the youngest, recalls little of past wars while Wulf is determined to emulate their father, whose quest to avenge his betrayed kinswomen drew him to battle three successive Northumbrian kings.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria is more hostile towards the Mercians than his father was. His sister Ositha, thwarted in her marriage plans, seeks to make her mark in other ways, but can she, when called upon, do her brother’s murderous bidding?
Ethelred finds love with a woman who is not involved in the feud, but fate intervenes. Wulf’s actions against Northumbria mean Ethelred must choose duty over love, until he, like his father before him, has cause to avenge the women closest to him. Battle must once more be joined, but the price of victory will be high.
Can Ethelred stay true to his father’s values, end the feud, keep Mercia free, and find the path back to love?
This is the second of the two-book series, Tale of the Iclingas, which began with Cometh the Hour, but can be read as a standalone.
Annie WhiteheadAnnie is a History graduate and an elected member of the Royal Historical Society. She has written four novels set in Anglo-Saxon England, one of which, To Be A Queen, tells the story of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. She has contributed to fiction and nonfiction anthologies and written for various magazines and is on the EHFA (English Historical Fiction Authors) Editorial team and is senior reviewer at Discovering Diamonds. She was the winner of the inaugural Historical Writers’ Association/Dorothy Dunnett Prize 2017 and is now a judge for that same competition. She has also been a judge for the HNS (Historical Novel Society) Short Story Competition. Her nonfiction books are published by Amberley Books and Pen & Sword Books.
August 3, 2021
New Release from Betty Walker
WARTIME WITH THE CORNISH GIRLS (Avon Books UK)
1941. The Blitz rages over London.
And even in Cornwall, the war is being fought….
When Violet loses her sister in the Blitz, she must take her nieces to safety in Cornwall. On the coast, she meets carefree chorus girl Eva, who is also running from the dangers of London.
But Porthcurno hides a secret military base and soon Violet and Eva realise there’s a battle to fight in Cornwall, too.
Together with local Hazel, who works on the base, they must come together to help the war effort. But will their friendship be enough to keep them safe?
The perfect uplifting wartime listen for fans of Nancy Revell and Donna Douglas.
Betty WalkerBetty Walker lives in Cornwall with her large family, where she enjoys gardening and coastal walks. She loves discovering curious historical facts, and devotes much time to investigating her family tree. She also writes bestselling contemporary thrillers as Jane Holland.
Buy link for Amazon UK (paperback): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wartime-Cornish-Girls-first-uplifting/dp/0008400288
You can also check out Betty’s social media – just follow the links:
Social Media links:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CornishGirls
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CornishGirlsSagas
July 30, 2021
Going to the Flicks in 1941
Like most young people in the forties, my heroine, Sarah Gillespie, in Her Secret War, is obsessed with cinema and spends all of her hard-earned, but meagre wages, on film tickets and cinema magazines such as Picturegoer Weekly. The world she sees on the silver screen is very different to her life and feeds her dreams. For someone like Sarah, growing up in a working-class part of Dublin, the regular trip to the picture house was pure escapism. During WW2, a third of most Britons went to the cinema at least once a week and it is likely the statistics were similar here in Ireland. My father often spoke of his weekly trips as a child to ‘the flicks’ with his friends, and could tell you all about the various cinemas in Dublin and the types of films they showed. Sadly, most of those cinemas are long gone now.
And then of course, there was the Hollywood glamour filling the pages of the fan magazines, which transported readers far away from the realities of war. Much like the social media influencers of today, the movie stars’ lives influenced popular culture, fashion and music.
In Britain, the fictional trails and tribulations of favourite movie stars on the screen resonated with a public reeling from the Blitz. For a couple of hours, you could forget about the bombs dropping on your neighbourhood, the discomfort of nights spent in an Anderson Shelter or your next bombing run.
So what were the top 3 movies in cinemas in 1941 ?
Citizen Kane: When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane’s (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. Though Kane’s friend and colleague Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), and his mistress, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), shed fragments of light on Kane’s life, the reporter fears he may never penetrate the mystery of the elusive man’s final word, “Rosebud.”The Maltese Falcon: In this noir classic, detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case brought to him by a beautiful but secretive woman (Mary Astor). As soon as Miss Wonderly shows up, trouble follows as Sam’s partner is murdered and Sam is accosted by a man (Peter Lorre) demanding he locate a valuable statuette. Sam, entangled in a dangerous web of crime and intrigue, soon realizes he must find the one thing they all seem to want: the bejeweled Maltese falcon.How Green was my Valley: Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall), the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th century, a miners’ strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father (Donald Crisp) doesn’t want to rock the boat. Meanwhile, Huw’s eldest sister, Angharad (Maureen O’Hara), pines for the new village preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon).
(Source IMBD.com)However, for one of the dramatic scenes in the book, which takes place in a cinema, my characters are enjoying Cottage to Let, an English spy film (very apt – if you read the book!), when the sirens sound and the cinema has to be abandoned. The film stars Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim and John Mills and a very young George Cole. Set in World War II Scotland, its plot concerns German spies trying to kidnap an inventor.
The film is available to view on YouTube if you fancy a peek: Cottage to Let
In today’s modern world of TV and streaming services, it is difficult to comprehend the importance that cinema had for public morale during the war. But perhaps we have had a taste of it during the pandemic; let’s be honest – most of us have binge-watched on streaming services or the TV to take our minds off it.
Initially, when war was declared in the UK in 1939, the cinemas were shut. Protest was immediate and within 2 weeks, the order was rescinded. This was in no small part down to objections from the likes of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, who wrote to The Times, querying the logic of shutting down entertainment.
‘What agent of Chancellor Hitler is it who has suggested that we should all cower in darkness and terror “for the duration”?’
As it transpired, cinemas were an invaluable means of both entertaining and instructing the public, however, it was also a major channel for war propaganda and was used by both the Allies and Nazi Germany to keep the public fired up with nationalism, and supportive of the war.
So, who were the most popular movie stars at the time? I have to admit I have chosen some of my favourites here!
First of all the glamourous ladies …
And last, but not least, those suave gentlemen of the silver screen …
HER SECRET WAR by Pam Lecky
Published by: Avon Books UK/Harper Collins
Release date: 14th October 2021
A life-changing moment
May 1941: German bombs drop on Dublin taking Sarah Gillespie’s family and home. Days later, the man she loves leaves Ireland to enlist.
A heart-breaking choice
With nothing to keep her in Ireland and a burning desire to help the war effort, Sarah seeks refuge with relatives in England. But before long, her father’s dark past threatens to catch up with her.
A dangerous mission
Sarah is asked to prove her loyalty to Britain through a special mission. Her courage could save lives. But it could also come at the cost of her own…
Available to pre-order now: http://smarturl.it/HerSecretWar
A gripping story that explores a deadly tangle of love and espionage in war-torn Britain, perfect for fans of Pam Jenoff, Kate Quinn and Kate Furnivall.
July 28, 2021
Guardians at the Wall: Tim Walker
We all love a bargain – pop over to Amazon to check out the Kindle Countdown Deal on this great historical fiction novel – only 99p for a limited time!
GUARDIANS AT THE WALL
A group of archaeology students in northern England scrape at the soil near Hadrian’s Wall, once a barrier that divided Roman Britannia from wild Caledonian tribes.
Twenty-year-old Noah makes an intriguing find, but hasn’t anticipated becoming the object of desire in a developing love triangle in the isolated academic community at Vindolanda. He is living his best life, but must learn to prioritise in a race against time to solve an astounding 2,000-year-old riddle, and an artefact theft, as he comes to realise his future career prospects depend on it.
In the same place, in the year 180 C.E., Centurion Gaius Atticianus, hungover and unaware of the bloody conflicts that will soon challenge him, is rattled by the hoot of an owl, a bad omen.
These are the protagonists whose lives will brush together in the alternating strands of this dual timeline historical novel, one trying to get himself noticed and the other trying to stay intact as he approaches retirement.
How will the breathless battles fought by a Roman officer influence the fortunes of a twenty-first century archaeology mud rat? Can naïve Noah, distracted by the attentions of two very different women, work out who to trust?
Find out in Tim Walker’s thrilling historical dual timeline novel, Guardians at the Wall.
Kindle Countdown Buy Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08Y85DJYB?geniuslink=true
Tim Walker
New Release from Daisy Wood
Today, I am delighted to feature the new release from Daisy Wood, The Clockmaker’s Wife. What’s more, I can highly recommend this WW2 story as I read the book recently and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Clockmaker’s Wife
‘A ticking time-bomb of intrigue, wrapped around stark but rich descriptions of the Blitz. An unforgettable war-time debut.’ Mandy Robotham, author of The Berlin Girl
It’s the height of the Blitz in 1940, and too dangerous for Nell Spelman and her baby daughter, Alice, to stay in London. She must leave behind her husband, Arthur, one of the clockmakers responsible for keeping Big Ben tolling. The huge clock at the Palace of Westminster has become a symbol of hope in Britain’s darkest hour, and must be protected at all costs. When Arthur disappears in mysterious circumstances, Nell suspects evil forces are at work and returns to the war-torn city to save both the man and the country she loves.
Over eighty years later in New York, Alice’s daughter Ellie finds a beautiful watch with a cracked face among her mother’s possessions, and decides to find out more about the grandmother she never knew. Her search takes her to England, where her relatives are hiding shocking secrets of their own, and where she begins to wonder whether the past might be better left alone. Could her grandparents possibly have been traitors at the heart of the British establishment? Yet Ellie feels Nell at her shoulder, guiding her towards a truth which is more extraordinary than she could ever have imagined.
The Clockmaker’s Wife is available at all good book stores and online at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clockmakers-Wife-Daisy-Wood/dp/0008402302
A Little Bit about Daisy …
Daisy Wood worked as an editor in children’s publishing for several years before starting to write stories of her own. She has had over twenty children’s books published under various names, including the ‘Swallowcliffe Hall’ series for teens, based around an English country house through the years and the servants who keep it running. She loves the process of historical research and is a keen member of the London Library, which houses a wonderful collection of old magazines and newspapers as well as books. The Clockmaker’s Wife is her first published novel for adults. She studied English Literature at Bristol University and recently completed a Creative Writing MA at City University in London, where she lives with her husband, a rescue dog from Greece and a fluffy grey cat.
July 26, 2021
WW2: The Southampton Blitz
It is often the children who are most affected by war and WW2 was no exception. A poignant example of the terror experienced by a child is a quote from a young girl who survived the Southampton Blitzkrieg.
“There must have been some sort of warning before the sirens and when the barrage balloons went up, I knew it meant danger. I was very frightened. I used to rush down the garden to go headfirst into the shelter.”
Being within easy reach of German airfields in France, Southampton was an easy target for the Luftwaffe and a strategic one. Over the course of the war, 57 raids were carried out with approximately 2,300 bombs dropped. Six hundred and thirty one citizens were killed and 898 were seriously wounded. The damage was extensive with 45,000 buildings damaged or destroyed.
AIR RAID DAMAGE IN BRITAIN DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (ZZZ 8205C) Lower High Street, Southampton after the air raids of 30 November and 1 December 1940. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205022759Why was Southampton such an important target for Nazi Germany? Southampton was a busy naval port and Woolston was home to the Vickers Supermarine factory which was making Spitfire planes. The industry employed thousands of technicians and engineers. By 1940, production was at full capacity to meet the demands of the RAF who were desperate to replace the planes lost during the Battle of Britain. The factory was hit in September 1940, with much of the factory destroyed and 110 people killed. In the aftermath, Vickers Supermarine successfully dispersed its activities throughout Hampshire for the rest of the war, therefore making it difficult for the Luftwaffe to either find or destroy their works again.
Two dates stand out most due to the ferocity of the attacks. On the evenings of 23rd and 30th November 1940, there was such intensive bombing that the city’s water supply was ruined. Many of the fires, ignited by German incendiaries, had to be left to burn themselves out. The glow of the firestorm could be seen as far away as Cherbourg on the coast of France. The Nazis claimed they had left the city a smoking ruin as this American newspaper headline shows.
An earlier raid on 6th November, almost destroyed the city’s Art Gallery. The raid targeted the Civic Centre; as Hermann Goering head of the Nazi Luftwaffe had arrogantly observed – it looked like a ‘piece of cake’ from the air and he would ‘cut himself a slice’. In the course of the attack, 12 bombs were dropped including a direct hit with a 500lb high explosive on the Gallery. This bomb penetrated the roof, finally exploding in the basement killing 35 people including 15 children.
A tragic footnote: A gentleman by the name of Edgar L. Perry and his wife were killed on 23rd November 1940 in the Southampton Blitz. Edgar had worked as a coal trimmer on the doomed vessel, RMS Titanic, and had survived its sinking in 1912.
In Her Secret War, my heroine Sarah Gillespie arrives in Southampton and witnesses first hand the destruction wrought by the Luftwaffe the previous winter. However, Sarah finds the citizen’s defiance in the face of such adversity inspiring, giving her the confidence to follow through on her own pledge to thwart the Nazi regime in any way she can. Sarah begins work at Vickers Supermarine but, unfortunately for Sarah, her family’s dark past catches up with her and she is forced to take on a mission that could cost her life if she is to prove her loyalty to the Allies.
A Life-changing Moment – A Heart-breaking Choice – A Dangerous Mission
Her Secret War will be published by Avon Books UK/Harper Collins on 14th October 2021
Available to pre-order now: http://smarturl.it/HerSecretWar
June 18, 2021
New Release from John Anthony Miller
John Anthony Miller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a father of English ancestry and a second-generation Italian mother. Motivated by a life-long love of travel and history, he normally sets his novels in exotic locations during eras of global conflict. Characters must cope and combat, overcoming their own weaknesses as well as external influences spawned by tumultuous times. He’s the author of seven historical thrillers and mysteries, as well as Song of Gabrielle. He lives in southern New Jersey with his family.
New Release
Normandy, 1216: Lady Gabrielle is captured at a French convent and taken to an English castle, a prize for Sir Michael Marston. Her lover, Montague of Rouen, allies with English barons plotting to overthrow their king. As England drifts into civil war, Montague attacks. Minerva, a powerful witch, casts a spell on Marston and Gabrielle, joining the two as one.
Montague fights with passion never seen before or since, and the castle begins to fall. Wrought with doubt, defined by desire, Gabrielle is forced to choose. With whom will she spend eternity: Sir Michael Marston or Montague of Rouen?
A romance thread through a world of war, fantasy fused with fiction, Song of Gabrielle is the tale of a woman who loves two men. Riddled with hexes, potions and spells, bound by love and honor, it defines the heart and all it holds, and the forces that try to control it.
May 30, 2021
The Night the Luftwaffe Paid a Visit to Dublin
Ireland was still recovering from the War of Independence from Britain and the Irish Civil War, when WW2 broke out in Europe. The government at the time, led by Eamonn de Valera, declared Ireland was a neutral country. Ireland had neither the manpower nor the resources to become involved in the conflict. Relations with Britain were already strained and Ireland’s stance made Churchill furious.
Belfast BlitzIreland’s neutrality, however, was tilted slightly in favour of the Allies. Downed RAF pilots were quietly escorted to the border with Northern Ireland, while their German counterparts were interned at the Curragh Camp for the duration of the conflict. Perhaps more significantly, the Irish government sent fire crews to Belfast, during the Blitz in April 1941, to help put out the raging fires and dig out the bodies. Immediately after, many Northern Irish refugees made their way to Dublin where they were warmly welcomed.
I grew up a few kilometres from the suburb of North Strand on the north side of Dublin City. As a teenager, I was astonished to discover I lived so close to the spot where a Luftwaffe pilot dropped bombs in the early hours of 31st May 1941. The events of that Whit weekend, echoed the Blitz of Belfast only weeks before, and the bombing of cities such as Liverpool and London, and indeed, many other cities throughout Europe. A taste of the Blitz must have shaken Ireland to its core.
Ironically, the war eventually forced the Irish and British governments to mend their relationship somewhat, even co-operating by sharing police and military intelligence. However, at the beginning of the war, Ireland was isolated, and technically at the mercy of both the Allies and the Axis countries. As a result, Irish people were nervous, particularly as a few stray German bombs had dropped on the city and in Co Wexford in the preceding months.
North Strand, located close to Amiens Street railway station, (now called Connolly Station) was a quiet location with a rural village feel. The locals had formed a close-knit community, something exceptional for an urban area so close to a city centre. The Luftwaffe squadrons, often 30 planes strong, regularly flew up the Irish Sea, skirting Dublin, on their way to bomb Belfast or Liverpool, and Dubliners were familiar with the drone of those Heinkel He 111 bombers. Often, on their way back from their raids, they would jettison their excess bombs into the sea to lighten their loads and save fuel for the journey home to their bases in France.
Baldoyle RacecourseThe evening of Friday 30th May 1941 was a balmy one and Dubliners were looking forward to the bank holiday weekend. Some were planning day trips or just looking forward to relaxing at home with their families. Some would head out to Baldoyle Race Course for a flutter on the gee-gees. That night, the sky was incredibly clear. Blackout regulations were not strictly enforced in Dublin. There had been no clear ruling from Dublin Corporation, or ‘the Corpo’ as it was fondly known as by the majority of Dubs. Some advocated Dublin being fully lit, so the Germans knew the city was neutral; others favoured the safety of darkness. What they had was a ridiculous mix of the two.
Ireland had been relatively untouched up to then, bar a few stray Jerry bombs which the German embassy insisted were dropped in error due to faulty navigation. So, what happened that night?Something was different. Approaching midnight, instead of flying over Dublin, the German planes broke formation and circled the city. Searchlights illuminated the planes for the fascinated Dubliners who stood outside their houses, or in their gardens, watching the low flying bombers. What was going on? They normally flew over in formation, then disappeared.
Formation of Heinkel He 111 Bombers: Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-408-0847-10 / Martin / CC-BY-SA 3.0Warning flares went up. That usually made Jerry move on. But not tonight. Then the anti-aircraft gun in Clontarf went into action. Things were getting serious. And still the planes lingered. The night sky turned into a light show, between the flares, searchlights and streaks of light coming from the shells. The citizens became increasingly anxious. And then, just as suddenly, the bombers left.
Or so everyone thought…Some time later, one plane appeared in the sky over the north of the city, ducking and diving and giving rise to alarm. Witnesses said he flew so low they could see his face. Was he looking for something in particular?
The first three bombs fell within minutes of each other, just after one thirty on the Saturday morning. Ballybough was hit first, with two houses demolished, but thankfully there was no loss of life. The second fell near the Zoo in the Phoenix Park, damaging Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the president. The third fell near Summerhill, creating a huge crater in the road but miraculously, there were no injuries as a result.
The North Strand the morning after the German bombing, on the night of 31st May 1941. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI collection).
Used by kind permission from Independent News and Media, who hold the copyright for this image.
However, the fourth – a 500lb landmine, landed in the middle of North Strand, accompanied, according to witnesses, by a ‘dreadful screaming whistle’. Many were killed instantly, especially those caught out in the open; others would die later of their injuries. A gas main ruptured, but a quick thinking glimmer man burnt off the gas and prevented an even bigger disaster. The result of that landmine was the death of twenty-eight men, women and children. Ninety were injured and three hundred homes were decimated. As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, as the damage was assessed it became clear that many of the tenement-type terraces were too badly damaged and would have to be demolished. Four hundred people found themselves homeless. In fact, an entire suburb of Dublin was annihilated that night and would never recover. Some of those displaced by the destruction of their homes, were eventually re-housed in the outlying suburb of Cabra. North Strand as was, ceased to exist.
The grim business of recovering bodies began soon after.For days, bodies and injured victims were dug out to the horror of a country struggling to come to terms with a war which had been, before that awful night, over there somewhere in Europe. Now, it was most definitely impacting on their lives. The Red Cross and religious orders stepped in to help, funded by a generous and shocked public.
Eamonn de Valera: National Library of Ireland on The Commons Five days later, on a wind-swept and rain-lashed day, the first of the funerals took place. The victims were buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, accompanied to their resting place by de Valera, politicians, emergency services and a vast crowd of grieving, ordinary citizens.
Dublin was a city in mourning.Pathetic scenes were witnessed as the cortege passed through the streets crowded with sympathisers … as the twelve hearses passed along women wept bitterly. (Evening Herald, 5 June 1941)
Soon after, the conspiracy theories flourished. Jerry did it deliberately because the Irish government helped Belfast during its Blitz; the British government was behind it, pretending to be Germans to drag Ireland into the war; the bombs were dropped in error due to faulty navigation or the pilot being disorientated … and on it went.
My opinion is, having read the eye witness accounts in Kevin C. Kearns’ book, The Bombing of Dublin’s North Strand, 1941: The Untold Story (ISBN-13 : 978-0717146444), that the pilot knew it was Dublin. It was a clear night, the city was lit up to signal it was neutral, they knew the route well, and the pilot flew incredibly low, described by some as if he were looking for a particular target. The bombers were fired on and I think that, combined with the Irish help given only weeks before to Blitzed Belfast, made that pilot angry enough to drop his payload. Of course, we will probably never know for sure. However, his actions were to have terrible consequences for the quiet enclave of North Strand. The official death-toll was twenty-eight, but many reckon it was nearer to forty-five as many bodies remained missing or never identified.
The aftermath …It wasn’t until 1958 that Germany admitted responsibility, without admitting guilt, and paid the Irish Government £327,000, against a total claim of £481,878. Most of the victims saw little of that money. The Corpo built blocks of flats on the derelict sites which had stood forlorn and forgotten for thirty years when I was just a nipper. And it wasn’t until 1991, that a memorial garden and plaque to the victims was put in place.
Memorial to commemorate the bombing of the North Strand by the Germans during WWII:Photo Credit: UtDicitur
When I decided to write a WW2 novel, I wanted to anchor the story in Irish history. Coupled with inspiration from my family’s wartime experiences, the story of what happened that night in North Strand, seemed to me, a very good starting point. My heroine, Sarah, is lucky enough to survive but the events of that night change her life, forcing her to make incredibly difficult decisions.
For me, the destruction of a community is one of the most poignant aspects of the incident. The surviving residents were scattered throughout the city, never to return to their homes. The more I researched the bombing for my novel, Her Secret War, the more tragic I found it. So few people remember the events of that night now, and that is incredibly sad. Her Secret War’s opening chapters describe the events of that fateful night; a small tribute to those souls who perished.
Pre-Order now Available: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Secret-War-Pam-Lecky/dp/0008464847
Her Secret War will be published by Avon Books UK/Harper Collins, worldwide, on October 14th 2021 and will be available in all good bookshops and online.
