Sunday 29 June 2014

Ruth's War

After WW2 started, my grandad (Pop) thought Harwich would be a dangerous place for his family – so he moved them to the East End of London. 



He wasn’t the only one. My husband’s grandad moved his family from here to London too and they were all there during the Blitz.

One day my family came out of the bomb shelter to find their house destroyed so my nana said they were going home. I don’t think she’d wanted to go to London in the first place.

They retrieved what they could and headed for Liverpool Street only to find the station closed. “Where are you going?” a man asked. “Harwich,” my nana said. “You’ll be lucky,” he said. “There’s nothing left of it. The whole town has been flattened.”

Fortunately it wasn’t true. When my mum told me stories about being in London during the Blitz, that was always the part where she’d get emotional – remembering how her mum, a tough little lady in her 30s, had gone to pieces thinking her parents must be dead.

Pop was one of the many who took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk.

I’ve just published Ruth’sWar on Kindle. It was first published as a pocket novel back in 1991 and later by Linford in Large Print.



It’s a novella, so just a short read. 77p from Amazon.uk here and $1.31 from Amazon.com here.

This is not their story, but I have dedicated it to the memory of my parents, my grandparents and my Uncle Frank.

Special thanks to Rob for doing the cover for me!




24 comments:

  1. We so easily forget what people went through, don't we. Your book looks lovely, and very timely. I'm reading another of yours at the moment, and enjoying it.

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    1. Thank you, Frances, that is so nice of you to say and I do appreciate it x

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  2. How lives were changed and people just gone on with it. Communication channels were few and far between, families must have been so anxious. When people say they are stressed out, it's usually because they're too busy fitting in social occasions.

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    1. It is hard to imagine what people went through isn't it. We have my grandfather-in-law's diary. He lived and worked in London during the blitz and although he never complains in his diary and it amazingly cheerful, it brings home how relentless it was and how it must have felt as if it would never end x

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  3. Wonderful cover, Teresa. And the perfect time to make it available to new readers.

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  4. I shall really look forward to this, Teresa. I always enjoy everything you write and also particularly love reading about this part of history, especially how it affected home-life and how people coped with the terrible worry and upheaval. I love the cover too. This will be wonderful reading for me. Thank you! xx

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    1. Thank you, Joanna that is lovely of you. My dad didn't talk much about the war, or any of his Royal Navy years really, but my mum was always telling me stories. I wish I'd written them all down x

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  5. Got it, Teresa, and really looking forward to reading it. Always a treat to read anything written by you :o) Beautiful cover too. When you read about what people went through day after day they were amazing weren't they. x

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  6. Thank you, Sue :-) That's my mum and dad on the cover. My mum would have been so thrilled to be my cover girl x

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  7. Your mum and dad would have been really proud. I shall have to get a kindle so I can read your story. A lovely post.

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  8. That picture is lovely, he's done a grand job of it Teresa, your Mum and Dad would be so proud. I'll be reading that. xx

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  9. People went through so much, didn't they? I feel so lucky not to know what it was like.

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    1. It's hard to imagine just how bad it was isn't it, Patsy x

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  10. I love hearing my mum's stories about the war. She pretended to be sick so she wouldn't have to be evacuated with the school.

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    1. Good for her, Wendy! Children were evacuated from here, but my nana wouldn't allow her family to be split up which is probably why my grandad moved the lot of them to London. I think it was so brave of parents to let their children go and just as brave to keep them close. It's not a decision any parent should ever have to make is it x

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  11. Such a wonderful cover, Teresa. It must bring a lump to your throat every time you see it. x

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  12. This is wonderful, Teresa, congratulations. I'm buying a copy for my kindle and look forward very much to reading it. I love the cover!! Your Mum and Dad would be so proud to be there with you. x

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    1. Thank you, Sharon - I think my mum and dad would have been chuffed to little mint balls :-) x

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  13. A lovely and moving read Teresa and I agree with the others, your mum would be so proud to find herself on the cover of your novella. It is wonderful that so many memories are being revived at the moment.

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    1. Thank you - I just wish I'd listened to ALL the stories my parents and grandad used to tell x

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