I’m delighted to be one of the first
stops on Rosemary's blog tour for her new WWI saga, Until We Meet Again. Here we are chatting on publication day.
Welcome back to my blog, Rosemary, and
thank you for talking with me today and answering my questions.
Thank
you for inviting me as your guest again, Natalie.
May I begin by saying how very much I
enjoyed your book. There is an air of authenticity about ‘Until We Meet Again’
that is apparent from the first page where you introduce us to Amy and her home
in Larchbury. Though your location changes, this sense of place remains
throughout, almost as if you were there over one hundred years ago. How did you
go about your research?
Although
times have changed, the old-fashioned village is still part of our heritage.
There are traditional looking villages to be seen, including ones in Kent,
where I live, if you can ignore the roads and traffic. They featured a lot in
storybooks when I was young. You often see them in TV series, like Lark Rise to
Candleford. The weather always seems better there! I need to be careful of
details, as public phones, for example, were beginning to appear by WWI, but
the familiar red ones were not introduced till the 1920s.
I took to Amy immediately, a young
woman of character who stuck to her principles in difficult times. Have you
based her on anyone in particular or has she come entirely from your
imagination?
She’s
largely imaginary, though one of the incidents was inspired by something that
happened to a friend of my mother’s, near the end of WWII.
It isn’t long before you take us into
that dreadful time that was World War 1 but, unlike some other books I have
read, you bring us right to the action. The attention to detail is outstanding
and I’m sure your readers would like to know what sources you used.
World
War I burst out very suddenly and it’s hard to write about it without making the
story impossibly grim but I was inspired by accounts of soldiers enjoying songs
and jokes even in the trenches. My hero and heroine needed to be special people
to survive it with their spirits intact.
I have
learnt a good deal about the Great War through the moving memoir of Vera
Brittain, in Testament of Youth.
(Virago Press, ISBN 0 86068 035 5.)
I have
also referred to A Nurse at the Front,
based on the First World War diaries of Sister Edith Appleton, edited by Ruth
Cowen. (Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-1-84983-366-0.) Some of the injuries she
saw were appalling, and in those days there were no antibiotics to aid
recovery.
If, as I suspect, you have visited some
of these places in peacetime, did you have a sense of the history and horror or
was it difficult to relate the one to the other? Or was your groundwork so good
that I’m completely mistaken and you’ve never been there?
I’ve
visited some towns in Flanders, chiefly the famous ones like Bruges and Ghent,
which were not especially significant in World War I, though most of Belgium
was occupied by the Germans. Today towns in the Belgian and French parts of
Flanders tend to have a peaceful atmosphere. They generally have a tall belfry,
often linked with a market place or town hall, symbolising the town’s importance.
To
imagine the area during the war you need to see the shocking photographs of
towns like Arras, Amiens and Ypres after they were bombarded. In Arras the city
hall, belfry and cathedral were all destroyed.
There
are also photographs of battlefields where all the trees have been reduced to
stumps.
I was surprised at the ease of
correspondence and how quickly letters would get home or to the front line. Was
there anything in your research that surprised you?
I
understand letters took up to five days to reach their destination, though
there were probably longer gaps at times of the major battles.
The women’s Suffrage movement plays a
large part in your story. Is this an aspect that’s close to your heart?
I have
a great respect for the Suffragettes, active in the period before World War I,
and the Suffragists, who were less militant. Many of them did valuable war work
and helped women to be recognised as deserving the same rights as their
menfolk.
I’m delighted to see that we can look
forward to meeting Amy and Edmond again in your next book. Is this a work in
progress? Can we expect to see them again soon?
A
sequel is in the pipeline. I hope Amy and Edmond will be back next year!
I’m sure your readers would love to
learn a little about you. What can you tell us about Rosemary Goodacre?
I love
travelling, mostly in Europe. I also enjoy music, mainly classical, and
reading. I love stories which transport me to a different place or time. It’s
intriguing to try to imagine how people survived challenging times in history.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Good luck with ‘Until We Meet Again’ and I look forward to the next in the
series.
Thank
you, Natalie. I’ve very much enjoyed the visit!
The Great War drove them apart - but love kept them together
Summer 1914: Shy young woman, Amy Fletcher, lives a quiet life in Sussex. An office worker, she lives at home, along with her parents and spirited younger brother, Bertie. But her life is transformed when she meets handsome young man, Edmond Derwent, son of one of the wealthiest families in the small town of Larchbury, and student at Cambridge University.
The couple are falling deeply in love when war breaks out and, eager to do his duty for England, Edmond signs up as an officer. The couple plan to wed, eager to start a new life together - but their happiness is short-lived when Edmond is sent to Flanders to lead his men into battle. Amy trains as a VAD nurse and is soon sent to France, where she sees the true horror of war inflicted on the brave young men sent to fight.
Separated by war, Edmond and Amy share their feelings through emotional letters send from the front line. But when Edmond is critically wounded at Ypres, their love faces the biggest test of all - can their love stay strong while the world around them is crumbling?
A romantic, emotional saga set in WW1 - readers of Rosie Goodwin, Katie Flynn and Val Wood will be captivated by this story of love.
Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2miX2vD
Apple: https://apple.co/2ncLTg3
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2m4UgKB
Twitter: @RoseGoodacre
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2W31k81
Author Biog:
Rosemary Goodacre has previously worked in computing and
teaching. She has had short stories published and a novella, A Fortnight is not Enough.
Her father's family came from continental Europe and she
loves travelling.
She enjoys country walking, bridge and classical music. She lives with her
husband in Kent, England.
Here
is the blog banner if you would like to follow Rosemary’s tour.
