Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking this journey with me; I hope very much that you enjoyed Flora’s story in the first in The Girls Who Went to War series.
My research for The Forgotten Daughter, and the whole series, took many turns. I had previously visited the Somme and Dieppe, where I trod the path of many of the theatres of war. But though this immersed me in a sense of the place, it sadly didn’t give me much of the story of the women who went there to nurse. The only evidence that they had been there was a picture hung on the wall of a museum of a nurse being presented to the King on his visit to the area.
I hope there is more of a recognition of the hundreds of young women who valiantly went to France, and many other parts of Europe, to nurse the injured, and that it was just me not finding it. However, I did feel enriched in their history, by taking this trip, as I stood on the same ground that had once run with a river of blood, and was aware of the shadows of tent hospitals where the wounded were tended.
But, for the details of a voluntary nurse’s life, I had to rely on searching the internet, where there is a wealth of stories to draw inspiration and information from. One piece in particular gave me the basis for this series, a starting point of the friendship between the girls. It was the diary of Miss Esmee Sartorius, a nurse who took the journey to Brussels that Flora, Mags and Ella take. It can be found at http://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/august1914.htm and is a story that fills you with admiration.
The next book in the series is The Abandoned Daughter. This is Ella’s story, from when she and Flora parted, leaving Ella in the thick of the action in France. It sees her become part of a team who provide medical care nearer to the front line, and then takes her journey into her past, following both the harrowing and the uplifting events that take place in her life. This is scheduled for publication in Spring 2019.
At present, I am writing Mags’s story, The Wronged Daughter, the third book in the series. That, too, begins from her parting with Flora, and takes us on Mags’s journey through changes in her life that have far-reaching consequences. Of all the girls, Mags was the most changed by the Brussels experience. And it is her regrowth that we witness as she takes on life after the war: a life of disappointment, betrayal, sorrow, but ultimate fulfilment. This is due for publication in Winter 2019.
However, the story doesn’t end there, as the tragedy of the first half of the twentieth century saw the world flare into another conflict, far greater in its impact on the lives and infrastructure of the home front in Great Britain. This is the time of the sons and daughters of Flora, Mags and Ella, a war that will pit sibling against sibling, break hearts and ruin lives as, brought up in what is to become Vichy, the so-called free France, they take different sides in the conflict. I will be writing this book next. Possible publication will be spring 2020.
If you enjoyed this book, do keep the others in mind for future reading, but also visit my website to learn more about my books and me: www.authormarywood.com
You can also join me on Facebook. My page www.facebook.com/HistoricalNovels is a lively interaction with my readers, with laughter and love in abundance, as well as all the latest book news, competitions and guest authors. I would love to see you there.
Much love to all, Mary x