The English Girl: A heartbreaking and beautiful World War 2 historical novel
Page 31
Available in audio
The Couple (available in the UK and the US)
The Lost Letters (available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Sarah
Dear reader,
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I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read The English Girl. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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The English Girl is inspired by a true story. When I was researching my first book, The Lost Letters, I came across a newspaper cutting of an interview with a woman who lived locally to me. She spoke about a camp for German prisoners of war at a village called Salthouse on the Norfolk coast, and how in the winter of 1946 the villagers had been asked if they might invite a prisoner into their homes for Christmas. Her parents did just that and, she, their youngest daughter, fell in love with that prisoner and – eventually – married him. Although the couple were accepted by many, she describes how some of her neighbours never came to terms with what she had done and how, for many years, one particular old lady would spit at her feet every time they passed each other. I kept that cutting, knowing that one day I would like to tell, if not that exact story, a story born of the same spirit. Of course, so much has changed since the 1940s, but it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the history of a place reveals itself if you scrape the surface. A feeling that I think the landscape in this part of Norfolk exacerbates with its beauty and sense of timelessness.
Over the course of writing The English Girl I became very fond of the main characters. This was just as well because most of the novel was written in 2020, during those interminable periods of lockdown when, apart from my family, they were my main source of company. During that time, I was incredibly thankful to have such an enjoyable and fulfilling job that I would normally carry out from home, regardless of any pandemic. I was also very grateful to be writing about another challenging time in history. The winter of 1946/1947 is, I believe, the snowiest and one of the coldest on record in the UK. One can only imagine the strength of character that people must have shown during those months, dealing with such extremes of weather in the aftermath of war when shortages were rife, and most families would have been coping under a heavy burden of grief. Even from the remove of my desk I found their courage inspiring. And a welcome reminder that even the darkest days pass eventually.
If you enjoyed The English Girl, I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I really appreciate hearing what my readers think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time. Also, I love to hear from my readers – you can get in touch through Twitter – whether you have any comments or thoughts about the book or would just like to say hello. It means a great deal to know that I am not writing in isolation and that there are readers out there actually reading and enjoying my work.
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With thanks,
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Sarah Mitchell
The Couple
Get it here!
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Whatever you think you know… you’re wrong.
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Following a whirlwind four-month romance, lawyer Claire and hotel entrepreneur Angus are engaged to be married. Happy and successful, and ready to start their new life together, Claire and Angus find what they believe to be the perfect home.
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But when Claire meets Mark, the man selling them the house, he looks eerily familiar. He looks exactly like the man she loved five years ago, the man she couldn’t bear to lose.
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As Claire finds herself irresistibly drawn to Mark and crosses lines she never thought she’d cross, Angus’ behaviour becomes increasingly suspicious. Soon Claire doesn’t know whether she can trust Mark, Angus… or even herself.
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The Couple is a psychological thriller with a stunning twist, perfect for fans of The Girl Before, The Wife Between Us, and The Woman in the Window.
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Get it here!
Acknowledgements
My first thanks must be to the parents of Janette Dams of North Norfolk, who by inviting a German prisoner of war into their home on Christmas Day 1946, sowed the seed for this novel (and for their daughter, of course, a whole lot more besides). Also invaluable was a little book called Divided City: The Berlin Wall, by Christian Bahr, that I found on a visit to Berlin in 2019. It contains first-hand accounts by West Berliners of the events of 9 November 1989, and the description by Herr Eckard Löhde was particularly inspiring. Another book I relied upon to try to capture that historical watershed was 1989: The Year that Changed the World, by Michael Meyer. I would also like to thank my lovely agent and editor, Veronique Baxter and Cara Chimirri, who are wonderfully supportive and who provided me with expert feedback to make this book the very best version of itself. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my friend Clare Barter, who reads for me with such enthusiasm and insight that I’m sure she must have been an editor in another life. Finally, as always, thank you to my husband, Peter, who had to deal with everything from crashed computers to plot holes with – during lockdown – no escape.
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
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Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
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We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
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Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
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Thank you.
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*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2021
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An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
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www.bookouture.com
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Copyright © Sarah Mitchell, 2021
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Sarah Mitchell has asserted her right to be identified
as the author of this work.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-80019-691-9
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.