Jen Gilroy's Blog, page 8

My year to ‘grow’: Books, a name & living my word for 2022

Regular blog readers know each year I choose a word to live by. This year my word is ‘grow.’

From January to March, here’s how I ‘grew.’

Writing growth

In the last three months, I’ve had two new books published, Montana Reunion from Harlequin Heartwarming and The Sweetheart Locket from Orion Dash.

Carrie from Reading is My SuperPower says:

‘Montana Reunion…has it all – likable characters, a smooth writing voice, engaging layers…and a sweet-and-swoony romance!’

DJ Sakata from Books and Bindings called The Sweetheart Locket, my historical and women’s fiction debut:

‘An absorbing, heart-rending, and intriguing dual-timeline…between family members in WWII England and modern times. The storylines were original, engaging, well contrived, historically and culturally accurate.’

I’ve also written a draft of the sequel to Montana Reunion and planned another Second World War historical novel.

If you’ve yet to read my new books, get Montana Reunion here and The Sweetheart Locket here. If you’re on Goodreads, add them to your ‘want-to’ read shelf or ask your local library to order copies.

Growing my author profile

Thanks to two new books, I’ve also had unexpected publicity.

A journalist at my local newspaper wrote an article about me which was picked up by other Canadian and international news outlets including The Toronto Star for Canada’s largest online news site:

Author Jen Gilroy Signs Deals with Top Publishers

Personal growth

I bought a bicycle, my first in over twenty years, and as the weather warms, I’m looking forward to exploring my small-town world on two wheels.

During a long winter, I focused on improving my French language skills and can now watch (and understand!) French films with French rather than English subtitles. I also read my first French book since university, a fantastic contemporary women’s fiction title by Françoise Bourdin, a best-selling French author.

When life and writing come full circle

Long ago, I wrote several academic theses about tourism in places associated with writers.

As such, being featured in a tourism promotion about authors from my part of Ontario, Canada, including one who was a favourite of my maternal grandfather, is both special and surreal.

I’m #12 under 1000 Islands and Rideau Canal Waterways: 15 Amazing Authors from South-Eastern Ontario

Just when I thought my life and writing couldn’t get more circular, a news article inspired by the piece in my local paper appeared with a questionable headline and giving me a new name: ‘Writer Jane Gilroy ties up with top publishers’

Jane Gilroy was my grandmother many generations back.

Born in Ireland, she came to Canada in the nineteenth century. From Jane to Mary Jane (pictured) and Sarah Jane, the name continued through to me since Jenny/Jennie (as I’m known by family) are diminutives of Jane.

Would that first Jane Gilroy be turning over in her grave or rolling with laughter at this twenty-first century usage of her name in a way she could never have imagined?

‘The Sweetheart Locket’ is out now: Hope, heart, heroism & humanity for troubled times

The Sweetheart Locket, my women’s and historical fiction debut is out in ebook today. Published by a British publisher, Orion Dash, it’s also my British debut and the first book I’ve written set mostly in England.

When I started writing this story in 2019, I could never have imagined the turbulent world in which my WW2 dual timeline novel would be released. However, The Sweetheart Locket is surprisingly relevant in times like these.

It’s a story of h ope

In both Second World War England and 2019, my characters are at turning points in their lives.

In 1939, Maggie defies her Canadian family and stays in England to ‘do her bit’ for the war effort—a decision that has major repercussions for her own life as well as the lives of her daughter Millie and granddaughter Willow.

In 2019, Willow, a single mom to a grown daughter, is going to England for an extended work trip when a DNA test supposed to be a bit of fun yields unexpected results.

Although Millie refuses to answer Willow’s questions, are there secrets in their family history and could Maggie’s past be a clue to Willow’s present?

Maggie and Willow face numerous challenges, Maggie in particular as part of Britain’s wartime Special Operations Executive (SOE) working as a secret agent (‘spy’) in occupied France. Yet neither lose hope in a brighter future.

‘Even in the darkest days of war, if you lost your dreams you also lost your hope so in a way you lost everything.’

It’s a story with heart

Although it’s women’s fiction, there are several love stories in The Sweetheart Locket and they intertwine across both the historical and contemporary narratives.

The sweetheart locket at the centre of the story is inspired by the sweetheart jewellery members of the armed forces gave to loved ones at home during both World Wars. Pictured is a vintage Second World War British Royal Air Force sweetheart locket from my own jewellery box.

Along with romantic elements, The Sweetheart Locket, is also filled with heartwarming and sometimes heart wrenching emotions.

The book is my love letter to England too and places, even though I now live in Canada, that will always be part of what I call ‘home.’

It’s a story of heroism

As a wartime story, The Sweetheart Locket celebrates heroism, much of it by ordinary people.

“Being brave didn’t mean you weren’t afraid. You did what you had to despite the fear.”

During the London Blitz, Maggie seeks shelter from the bombing in a London underground station and makes a friend for life. She also risks her own life as an secret agent in wartime France.

In the contemporary strand, Willow is brave too, determined to discover the truth about what her gran did in the war, rebuild fractured family relationships and change her life to pursue dreams she once set aside.

It’s a story of humanity

At its core, The Sweetheart Locket is a story of humanity with courageous characters who stand up for their beliefs no matter the personal cost.

Both storylines also are about people, families, friends and communities coming together for support and mutual connection.

‘We might not be a family by birth but we’re a family by choice, a patchwork family.’

It’s a story offering comfort and distraction, encouragement and escape

In these past two difficult years, I’ve turned to fiction more than ever for comfort and distraction, along with encouragement, escape and solace.

If you choose to read The Sweetheart Locket, I hope it gives you these things and more.

Find out more and get an eBook from Amazon or any of the vendors listed on my website here.

For US readers, The Sweetheart Locket is currently an eBook bargain at only $2.99/$3.99 Canada.

If you’re waiting for the paperback, it will be out later this year and I’ll share the release date when I have it.

[All excerpts from The Sweetheart Locket copyright Jen Gilroy 2022.]

Book news, a podcast & Jen recommends bookish travel

In a pause from my usual type of blog post, this week I’m sharing book news, a podcast interview and, since many of us, like me, still can’t travel far in real life, I also have a recommendation for bookish armchair travel.

My podcast debut

Last month, I took part in my first podcast interview and was delighted to chat with hosts Bree and Aaron for Episode 105 of The Categorically Romance Podcast.

We chatted about Montana Reunion, my debut Harlequin Heartwarming and western romance, as well as how my journey with English Rose helped inspire a fictional character who lives with chronic illness.

Lighter moments include my “warning label,” teenage celebrity crush and life story in one sentence.

Listen to the podcast interview here.

New book news

In case you missed it in my February newsletter, I’m happy and grateful to have signed a new contract with Harlequin Heartwarming to write three more books following Montana Reunion and about the Carter family and Tall Grass Ranch.

It warms my heart how readers are responding to Montana Reunion.

Julie from Bookish Jottings, The Romance, Saga and Women’s Fiction Blog, said:

“Captivating, affecting and wonderfully romantic…Montana Reunion, is a sweet second chance contemporary romance that is simply enchanting.”

I’m currently writing the next book in what is now a series and it’s rodeo cowboy Cole’s story. Cole is a younger brother of rancher Zach who, along with Beth, takes centre stage in Montana Reunion.

If you haven’t yet read Montana Reunion, get it from any of the vendors on my website here, or ask your local library to order it. Library recommendations are one of the easiest ways for readers to support favourite authors.

Bookish travel

[image error]With grim world news, I continue to escape into fiction for comfort, distraction and armchair travel.

I recently read New Girl in Little Cove by Damhnait Monaghan and am now recommending it to all my book-loving friends.

Full of gentle charm and subtle humour, and with warm affection for people and place, it’s the story of a new French teacher in a 1980s Newfoundland fishing village. There’s romance, as well as friendship, community and some grittier real-life issues too which are handled sensitively and with compassion.

Not least, New Girl in Little Cove makes me want to visit Newfoundland again, an island off the east coast of Canada and a beautiful and unique part of our country.

Hope

At this difficult time, I’m finding solace in peaceful woodland walks and seeking light and hope amidst darkness.

Sending virtual hugs as I, like other authors, work to bring you small joys through stories.

 

 

Valentine’s Day 2022: Cards, candy and a cadaver

Heading towards our twenty-sixth wedding anniversary, these days Tech Guy and I don’t usually make a fuss over Valentine’s Day.

While we celebrate our love, we don’t typically do so on February 14 when restaurants are busy, flowers over-priced and there’s unspoken pressure to live up to a kind of romance that doesn’t fit with who we are as a couple.

This year, though, and with English Rose at university, we were looking forward to our first Valentine’s Day as empty nesters. We’d planned a special takeout meal, movie and cozy evening together.

Best-laid plans…

Since Tech Guy works with colleagues in Asia, he often has business meetings outside the standard nine-to-five.

Last week, though, someone had the not-so-bright idea to schedule a conference call for Valentine’s Day evening in North America.

Although Tech Guy, to his credit, got the time of the call changed, it was by then too late to order our special meal from a restaurant forty-five minutes away.

Still, we persevered. What we ate wasn’t important. All that mattered was couple time.

Cards and candy

We exchanged Valentine cards and shared chocolates. After picking up a replacement meal, we watched a Netflix show while deciding on a movie.

All was going according to the revised plan until the phone rang.

The cadaver

It was English Rose. And she was in a panic. With an anatomy practical exam several days hence, she’d lost access to her “virtual cadaver.”

Owing to the pandemic, her university cancelled in-person laboratory studies so a “virtual cadaver” was on this year’s list of school supplies.

Without going into details, cadaver access was restored and English Rose was no longer on the metaphorical academic ledge—not helped by there also being a flood in her university residence meaning she hadn’t had running water all day.

Finally time for romance?

By then, it was too late to watch a movie so I went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Tech Guy promised he’d follow soon.

He did but Floppy Ears got there first.

When Tech Guy was also ready to get into bed, his side was already occupied by thirty-four pounds of determined hound.

When he tried to move Floppy Ears aside, our usually placid dog made her feelings known with a low, “don’t mess with me” growl.

Love is….

There are times when laughter is the only option and that was one of them.

While our Valentine’s Day didn’t turn out as planned, lasting love is about more than one day.

Rather, and in all seasons, love is laughter, family, dogs and even a cadaver!

Coincidentally, the women’s fiction book I’m currently writing is about marriage and life after the happily ever after.

It won’t, however, feature a cadaver, real or virtual, because sometimes, life is stranger than anything I invent in fiction.

Marking five years as a published author & “Montana Reunion” on tour

In the past ten days my sixth book, Montana Reunion, has hit physical and digital bookshelves, and I’ve also marked five years since the release of my first book, The Cottage at Firefly Lake.

Since January 2017, as I’ve transitioned from newbie to more experienced author, I’ve learned lessons big and small. Here are my top four.

Letting go

Once a book is published it no longer belongs solely to me. Rather, it belongs to readers so I have to let it go.

Unless it’s to check a reference or series detail, I don’t reread my books once they’re out either. By then, I’m immersed in writing a new story so although I imagine my fictional characters continuing to live their lives in the world I created, they’re no longer part of my daily life.

Growing my craft and career

In the past five years I’ve published six books in English and three in German translation. Along with an additional German translation, I’m also under contract with a publisher for books seven, eight and nine of which the first, The Sweetheart Locket, is out this March.

I began as a romance writer and Montana Reunion, my latest release, is still a romance book.

However, it’s a different kind of story than my backlist titles. It’s published as part of a Harlequin series, in this case Heartwarming, and it also has a western setting as well as a lower ‘heat level’—what’s known in North America as a ‘clean’ romance.’

The Sweetheart Locket, a dual timeline Second World War and contemporary novel, marks my first foray into historical and women’s fiction, as well as books set partly in England.

Although I’m writing different books than I did at first and, I hope, continuing to learn my craft and become a stronger writer, my core story is still the same.

It’s one that integrates families and multiple generations with romance and a strong sense of place as my characters find fresh starts, loving partnerships and home where they least expect…all with happy, hopeful endings.

The published author mindset

Writing for publication requires perseverance, mental toughness and a very thick skin.

Constant rejection (which happens even after publication), criticism, bad reviews, low sales, social media trolling, creative burnout and more are the darker side of the writing life.

In the first five years of my career, I’ve experienced many of these but I’ve also learned to focus my energy on things I can influence rather than those I can’t.

Chief among these is writing the best books I can, celebrating small joys, lifting up other writers and putting in the work of a career author…day by day and word by word.

Readers

One of the greatest joys of my author life that came with publication is my growing reader community.

Readers who enjoy my books and stick with me for each new release are a special gift. I’m grateful for their support and, in many cases, virtual friendship too. Without such readers, I couldn’t be an author and I appreciate each and every one.

Montana Reunion on tour…and looking towards the next five years

Montana Reunion is currently (January 31-February 9, 2022) on a virtual tour of book bloggers and reviewers via Prism Book Tours.

Follow along via the launch page, here, for exclusive book excerpts, reviews and a chance to win a signed paperback (US, Canada and UK).

Through this tour I’m connecting with new readers, one of whom commented:

“The Carter family welcomes readers into their circle as they did [the heroine]. You won’t want to leave this Montana ranch, the camp or the nearby town.”  Suzie Waltner, Remembrancy

That kind of feeling is one of the promises I made to readers with my first book and it continues today.

I hope you’ll follow me through the next five years in my writing and life.

Montana Reunion is almost here…And I’m remembering when I wore cowboy boots

Montana Reunion, my debut western and Harlequin Heartwarming romance, is out in a few days on January 25.

To those who have only known me in one part of my life, for example, my years in England or now small-town Eastern Ontario, Canada, it may not be immediately obvious as to why I’m now writing western-set stories.

Once upon a time, however, I wore cowboy boots and lived in places where western life and culture were celebrated.

A little cowgirl 

I wore this pair of cowboy boots between the ages of two and three.

According to family lore, I liked them so much I sometimes wanted to wear them to bed. Together with a child-size cowboy hat, my first fashion was “western fashion.”

Fast forward a decade or so when, as a teenager, I saved up the money I earned babysitting to buy a pair of nut-brown Frye western boots.

I wore those boots for years and still lament sending them to a charity shop when I was in university—and purged my wardrobe in favor of a preppy look.

Prairie life and landscape

I spent my childhood and adolescence in the province of Manitoba which, along with Saskatchewan and Alberta, is Canada’s answer to the American west.

Thanks to my dad having grown up in a small Manitoba town, one of the first ways of life I knew was a western one.

As a result, and also from family vacations in Montana and living in Alberta for two years as a young adult, I still love that vast prairie landscape where the land meets the sky.

I have fond memories of western life too: Ranches, pickup trucks, rodeos, line dancing and cowboy hats lined up on wall hooks in small-town diners.

Country music

Although trained as a classical musician, I’ve always had a soft spot for country music and those who make it.

Perhaps more so than any other musical genre, country music (original country from the American South today fused with what was once country and western music) tells stories—about love and romance, work and family and more—in only a few minutes.

Listening to such music, by artists like Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift, as well as Alberta-born musicians Paul Brandt and Terri Clarke, taught me about storytelling and how to convey emotion long before I began writing fiction with the goal of publication.

And now, when I put together playlists to help me create the world of a book, one or more country tunes always feature. For Montana Reunion, it was Paul Brandt singing Alberta Bound (with a nod to Montana) and Luke Bryan’s “What Makes You Country.” 

Montana Reunion and writing home

In many ways, writing Montana Reunion was like coming home to places and people I’ve always held dear, no matter how far away life took me.

As Beth, the heroine of my story, returns to Montana for the first time since she was a teenager, what she sees is what I also see in the West:

“‘It’s only a sky. There’s nothing special about it.’ Twelve-year-old Ellie spun away from Beth to roll her wheelchair along a wooden pathway.

Except, it was a Montana sky, streaked with soft gold, blue and gray in the early July evening as the sun settled over the distant mountains. A sky as big as Beth remembered and with the same sense of endless possibilities.” Copyright © by Jen Gilroy 2022

I now live in a part of Canada where it’s rare to see cowboy hats and boots, the landscape is dotted with small farms rather than vast ranches, and most horse riding is English rather than Western style.

But while the preppy look is once again back in fashion, this time I’m holding firm to my early western roots.

In fact, I have my eyes on a pink cowboy hat similar to one I once gave English Rose with boots to match… to be worn by a future fictional heroine unless, of course, I decide to treat myself too!

If you haven’t already pre-ordered a copy of Montana Reunion, available in large-print paperback or e-book, find out more and with buy links to multiple vendors here.

Note for UK readers: Unfortunately, Harlequin Heartwarming titles are no longer regularly available in print and e-book editions in the UK. However, you can order a large-print paperback from The Book Depository (with free shipping) here.

 

Reflecting not resolving: A year to grow

In this time of pandemic, days, weeks, months and even years sometimes feel as if they’re blurring together. While I’m hopeful 2022 will be better for us all, as I’ve done since 2014, I’m not making New Year’s resolutions but rather choosing a word to reflect on over the next twelve months.

This year, that word is “grow.”

Growing in my writing life

I’m happy and grateful to have three books out in 2022.

Montana Reunion is on wide release from Harlequin Heartwarming on January 25.

There’s a German edition of The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls, now entitled Mein einziger Wunsch bist du, from Penguin Verlag in July.

And, as announced in my December reader newsletter and on social media, my women’s fiction debut, The Sweetheart Locket, is published in March by Orion Dash, an imprint of the UK’s Orion Publishing Group,

All these books (available for pre-order if you’re so inclined) will help me connect with new readers. However, Montana Reunion and The Sweetheart Locket are also helping me grow my career and writing craft in fresh and exciting ways.

Montana Reunion is my first western and category romance. That means it’s a book of a defined length and released as part of a publisher’s imprint, in this case Harlequin Heartwarming, a sweet romance line.

The Sweetheart Locket, a dual timeline, Second World War and contemporary novel, is not only my first women’s fiction release, but my UK and historical fiction debut.

It’s my first published book to draw on my British life too, as well as university studies in cultural geography, social history and French language and literature.

Mental and social growth

Although it seems only a brief wrinkle in time since English Rose was a newborn, she’s an adult and at university so I’m growing in my own life.

While I’ll always be her mum, I can now rediscover and focus on parts of myself and life beyond motherhood. [image error]

This year, and particularly because several of the books I’m writing are set partly in France, I plan to renew and improve my French language competency.

Listening to radio programmes, watching films, and reading magazines and news online will all help me grow and reconnect with what was once an important part of my life.

It’s also a time for Tech Guy and I to enjoy unstructured couple time including more date nights and, once pandemic restrictions permit, impromptu weekends away and socialization with family and friends.

Emotional and spiritual growth

In this new phase of my life, I want to reconnect with my inner self too.

Whether that’s starting or ending my day with a devotional reading, taking more walks in nature or letting go of things that no longer work for me, I’m focused on exploring activities and practices to nurture, heal and grow my soul.

Physical growth

As a writer, I have a desk-based job and sit too much. While my weekly ballet class and daily walk with Floppy Ears ward against “writer’s butt,” incorporating more physical activity into my day is another area I’m reflecting on this year.

Short workouts, desk exercises, morning stretches or another type of fitness class would not only help me grow in physical strength but benefit my mental health and emotional and spiritual growth too.

Happy New Year to all. I hope 2022 brings joyful moments and growth that’s most meaningful to you.

And for writers who follow my blog, journalist and crime novelist Susie Steiner tackled that perennial question in a piece for The Guardian, a British newspaper: “Is there any way to avoid writer’s butt?” 

A year of words and a writing hangover

Last week, I finished the longest book I’ve ever written, all 101,294 words of it. And while many rounds of edits remain, for now it’s done and I can celebrate.

A dual timeline women’s fiction novel set between the Second World War and 2018, it’s also the most challenging book I’ve ever written, not helped by successive pandemic lockdowns when libraries and archives were closed, and I was unable to travel to England, where much of the book is set, to access primary sources.

Yet, along with Montana Reunion, my debut Harlequin Heartwarming and western romance which releases in January, this women’s fiction novel is one of four books I’ve worked on this year.

In 2021, I’ve written circa 250,000 words on book manuscripts alone. That excludes fortnightly blog posts of around 500 words each, monthly reader newsletters of a similar length, as well as hundreds of emails, social media posts, guest blogs, reviews and other book-related materials.

As a result, I now have a “writing hangover.” It’s nothing to do with imbibing too much alcohol but instead relates to writing (sometimes bingeing) too many words.

Symptoms

The dark circles under my eyes and stiffness in my neck, arms and shoulders speak to physical fatigue, but my brain is also uncharacteristically fuzzy.

I recently sent an email to an editor with both the wrong attachment and subject line.

In a shop this week, I forgot what I’d gone there to buy.

And as Tech Guy would attest, more often than not, I’m speaking in incomplete sentences, losing my train of thought partway through.

Treatment

First and foremost, I need rest, relaxation and a break from writing. Although I love to write, I’ve had “too much of a good thing” and my body and mind are telling me it’s time for a hiatus.

I need to walk, read, watch movies, browse in the library, listen to the radio, bake and refill my depleted creative well.

Instead of structuring plots, I need unstructured daydreaming.

I need to finish my Christmas shopping, write cards to distant family and friends, wrap presents and decorate the tree.

I also need to tidy my home office and in decluttering my workspace, declutter my mind.

And in doing all these things that take me away from my writing life, I’ll return to that life in January refreshed, restored and renewed.

As long as I remember not to binge read myself into a book hangover too…

This is my last blog post of 2021 but I’ll be back on 6 January 2022 with a new word for a new year.

Wishing all of you who celebrate a safe and happy holiday season. Thank you for being part of my life and reading community.

And for the writers who follow my blog, if you have your own writing-induced hangover, this Medium article by Kay Bolden has helpful tips.

Gratitude is more than an attitude

As my American family, friends and readers celebrate Thanksgiving, gratitude and giving thanks are in the news, and I’ve been thinking about the phrase “gratitude is an attitude.”

Being thankful is an attitude and expressing appreciation for things large and small has been shown to be associated with greater happiness and improved mental (and often physical) health.

As many of you know, each year I choose a word to guide me and in 2016 that word was ‘gratitude.’ When I chose it, I didn’t know that the subsequent twelve months would make it difficult to be grateful and appreciative.

English Rose was diagnosed with the first of what turned out to be several life-changing rare medical conditions.

After Tech Guy’s anticipated Canadian job fell through, I spent most of 2016 single-parenting in Canada while he remained in England to work and job search. Late that year, he was finally able to move to Canada but since his new job was five hours away, we still had to spend weekdays apart.

I was also managing several complicated family estates.

Gratitude wasn’t so much an ‘attitude’ as what often felt like another task to check off on my overwhelming to-do list.

It’s only in retrospect I realize that choosing gratitude for my word that year was more than adopting an attitude. Instead, it was consciously developing a practice of cultivating appreciation, particularly when life was hard.

In the five years since 2016, my life has had many ups and downs. It’s easy to be grateful for good things, but it’s through challenges I’ve gained a fuller understanding of what gratitude means.

Finding things to be grateful for even when life is hard has taught me patience, resilience and given me a happiness more firmly rooted in who I am inside and less influenced by what’s going on externally.

Gratitude is now not only an attitude, but a way of life founded on who I am and want to be, each day and not only at times of thanksgiving.

As for applying that approach this week, when both our kitchen sink and dishwasher have failed?

While I send good wishes to everyone celebrating Thanksgiving in the United States, Canadian Thanksgiving was in October so I’m grateful I’m not hosting a family gathering this week.

Broken appliances are also a first world problem and in addition to plenty of dishes to see us through this time of repairs, we have the financial means to support local restaurants by getting takeout when cooking isn’t possible.

Not least, and thanks to Tech Guy, I’m reminded of my appreciation for romantic leads who are handy around the house and in tackling DIY.

‘Lest We Forget:’ Honouring Wartime Sacrifice

In many countries, the eleventh of November is a day to honour wartime sacrifice.

In Canada, it’s Remembrance Day and here, as in the UK (known as Armistice Day) and elsewhere, there is a minute (or more) of silence at eleven in the morning to mark the armistice signifying the end of the First World War in 1918.

In the US, it’s Veterans Day, honouring military veterans who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

And on the second Sunday in November, the UK also marks Remembrance Sunday to commemorate those who served in the British and Commonwealth military and civilian services in both World Wars and subsequent conflicts.

Remembering and honouring wartime sacrifice has always been part of my life.

At school, I wore a poppy and learned about wartime life through poetry and fiction, including Canadian John McCrae’s celebrated First World War poem, ‘In Flanders Fields.’

Although he rarely spoke of it, a neighbour and family friend served as a navigator on a wartime Lancaster Bomber—an experience at odds with the kindly man I knew as a mild-mannered accountant.

One grandmother remembered Canada’s wartime ‘jam for Britain campaign’ and the other supported the Red Cross by knitting socks for soldiers.

And recently, I discovered that one of my high school teachers, a man who taught me Shakespeare and Dickens and encouraged my love of words, was a World War Two flying officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

In addition to his role as a bomb aimer, his wartime feats, for which at age ninety-five he was awarded a French Legion of Honour medal, included dropping supplies and secret agents into occupied France and supporting the 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy.

However, until I moved to England, wartime life had always seemed distant.

In England, though, the Second World War is a pivotal marker, even for those too young to remember it.

One of my older English cousins grew up with food rationing and spoke about it often.

The architecture of post-war England was also shaped by the war and an even older relative shared memories of air raids, pointing out where German bombing had once reduced a row of shops in her town to rubble.

And when English Rose was in primary (elementary) school, she and her classmates had a field trip to see a wartime Anderson shelter, still in the garden of a nearby house.

Now back in Canada, the Second World War remains part of my life because I’m writing about those years in several women’s fiction novels.

I’ll be able to share details of these books in coming months, but in telling such stories I’m also gaining a new and deeper appreciation of wartime sacrifice—by those who served in the armed forces as well as on the home front.

In the meantime, and if you’re looking for wartime reading, Maisie Thomas, one of my favourite British historical fiction authors, has a new book out today.

Christmas with the Railway Girls is the next instalment in her fantastic Railway Girls series, set in Manchester, England and telling the story of women who worked on Britain’s railways during the Second World War.

Available from Amazon & most other retailers (including UK supermarkets), these books bring the wartime world to life with intrigue, romance, female friendship and now, with this latest release, Christmas too.