I am so pleased to be involved in the Blog Tour for The Secret Notebook today and author Julia Wild has written a lovely Guest Post to accompany her novel
When Izzie Dean’s beloved nan, Molly Blackshaw, passes away, Izzie returns to the Blackpool bungalow where she grew up, to say goodbye once and for all. When Izzie’s homecoming reunites her with her first love, Justin Swift, every emotion that Izzie has repressed since the day he broke her heart comes rushing to the surface. But then an unexpected discovery changes everything.
Between the pages of the battered secret diary Molly kept during WWII, Izzie discovers a story of love, heartbreak, and the incomparable hardship of life in a world at war. Reading her grandmother’s words soon puts her own story into perspective, and suddenly Izzie realises that the only thing holding her back from happiness, might be herself. Now she just has to convince Justin that they deserve a second chance at forever…
Purchase Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RS6JBRJ/
GUEST POST
Hello there, Carole and your Book Corner readers, thank you for having me as a guest here today!
I thought I’d write a bit about the settings for The Secret Notebook, an associated story and a couple of the fun facts I found out whilst researching – even the facts I thought I knew for sure – things I could have got very wrong!
The Secret Notebook is a work of fiction, however, the World War Two guest house where the trainee RAF hero and others are billeted is the same one that my own Mum and Dad ran for several years in Blackpool during the 1970’s, and where I had an attic bedroom as a teenager. I, like the war time heroine, was married from there, which is a lovely connection to have to the story.
One hot Summer Day, Mum and Dad were working in the huge kitchen, the side of which is against a small service road. A work van was parked at the other side of the outer kitchen wall and there was a gas bottle on board the van – and it blew up!
Crikey, a fire engine turned up and all the bedrooms with their open windows up that side of the building were blackened with smoke. How fabulous is it that all the amazing owners of the neighbouring guest houses in the street turned up with mops and buckets once the fire was out and helped to clean up the occupied rooms. My Dad had been stood quite close to the outside window and the source of the explosion and afterwards reported that his slippers stayed on the floor where they had been on his feet – and he landed several feet away – without them! What a shock that must have been for him.
As a writer, you often do a lot more research than you actually use – to help make certain you don’t drop any enormous clangers and along the way, some of the facts you uncover are plain funny. The following is one of the more amusing ones.
One of the facts is that all the street signs were removed so that if the Germans landed to invade by way of the beach in Blackpool, then they wouldn’t know where they were. That fact made me chuckle – the Blackpool Tower, all 158 metres of it – might well have given the German landing forces a bit of a clue!
Another fact I found interesting was that when photographs appeared in the newspaper, Blackpool Tower was blanked out if it was visible – apparently this happened to landmarks all over the country to avoid areas being identified.
The house where I began my present-day story-line, was in West Hampstead and was a massive house that I’d had a bed sit in many moons ago; a close friend and I took a walk down the same road and took a good long look at the property and the area on a visit there when the book was almost finished.
A friendly local fellow was out walking his dog and very helpfully pointed out all the homes belonging to famous actors and actresses in the adjacent road. The area had definitely come up in the world – it was lovely when I’d lived there in the tree lined street, and it was exceptional when I revisited!
One of the last facts that I checked was about the present-day Blackpool trams. As a teenager, I’d lie in bed at night and hear them returning to the tram sheds, a lovely if loud and distinctive clanking noise both at night and in the mornings when they awoke for business again! For some reason, I had always found these noises comforting. My present-day heroine had spoken of this – well, I had to take that out! The trams and the tracks were updated in 2012 and are now very quiet!
Writing The Secret Notebook was my first Dual Timeline story and the first time I’d written anything in World War Two, all my past published books are contemporary romantic intrigue stories. So, it was a very different and enjoyable learning experience.
Thank you again, Carole for having me on your blog, I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences with you and your readers. Cheerio for now, Julia Wild x
Lancashire born, I moved to Bedfordshire in the late seventies, married and started a family. I’m a past Hon Sec of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, have been a member since 1993 when I joined their New Writers’ Scheme as a probationer. That came about after winning a week’s historical writing course on the strength of the first chapter of my third Poldark-era romance. The tutor on the last day loved the story and handed me details of the Romantic Novelists’ Association – she said I absolutely must join as they would be able to help me towards publication.
Some four years later my first published book, Dark Canvas, won the RNA’s New Writer’s Award in 1997, the sixth, Illusions, won the RNA’s Romance Prize in 2003.
After working in the local library service for 18 years, during library cut-backs I took the leap to become self-employed as a writer and worked on releasing my backlist as eBooks for Kindle.
Most recently, I’ve had the pleasure of working with amazing Charlotte Ledger when she pulled me from the writing wilderness and have now signed a three-book deal with One More Chapter.
Social Media Links – www.facebook.com/authorjuliawild
Twitter: @juliawildauthor
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Website: www.juliawildauthor.co.uk
