Keep reading for more from Sheila Newberry, to discover a recipe that features in this novel and to find out more about what Sheila is doing next . . .
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Meet Sheila Newberry
I’ve been writing since I was three years old, and even told myself stories in my cot. So it came as a shock when I was whacked round the head by my volatile kindergarten teacher for daydreaming about stories when I was supposed to be chanting the phonetic alphabet. My mother received a letter from my teacher saying, ‘Sheila will not speak. Why?’ Mum told her that it was because I was scared stiff in class. I was immediately moved up two classes. Here I was given the task of encouraging the slow readers. This was something I was good at but still felt that I didn’t fit in. Later, I learned that another teacher had saved all my compositions saying they inspired many children in later years.
I had scarlet fever in the spring of 1939, and when I returned to our home near Croydon, I saw changes which puzzled me – sandbags, shelters in back gardens, camouflaged by moss and daisies, and windows reinforced with criss-crossed tape. Children had iron rations in Oxo tins – we ate the contents during rehearsals for air-raids – and gas masks were given out. I especially recall the stifling rubber. We spent the summer holiday, as usual, in Suffolk and I remember being puzzled when my father left us there, as the Admiralty staff was moving to Bath. ‘War’ was not mentioned but we were now officially evacuees, living with relatives in a small cottage in a sleepy village.
On and off, we returned to London at the wrong times. We were bombed out in 1940 and dodging doodlebugs in 1943. I thought of Suffolk as my home. I was still writing – on flyleaves of books cut out by friends – and every Friday I told stories about Black-eyed Bill the Pirate to the whole school in the village hut. I wrote my first pantomime at nine years old, and was awarded the part of Puss in Boots. I wore a costume made from blackout curtains. We were back in our patched-up London home to celebrate VE night and dancing in the street. Lights blazed – it was very exciting.
I had a moment of glory when I won an essay competition that 3000 schoolchildren had entered. The subject was waste paper, which we all collected avidly! At my new school, I was encouraged by my teachers to concentrate on English Literature and Language, History and Art, and I did well in my final exams. I wanted to be a writer, but was told there was a shortage of paper! True. I wrote stories all the time and read many books. I was useless at games like netball as I was so short-sighted – I didn’t see the ball until it hit me. I still loved acting, and my favourite Shakespearian parts were Shylock and Lady Macbeth.
When I left school, I worked in London at an academic publisher. I had wanted to be a reporter, but I couldn’t ride a bike! Two years after school, I met my husband John. We had nine children and lived on a smallholding in Kent with many pets (and pests). I wrote the whole time. The children did, too, but they were also artistic like John. We were all very happy. I acquired a typewriter and wrote short stories for children, articles on family life and romance for magazines. I received wonderful feedback. I soon graduated to writing novels and joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. I have had many books published over the years and am over the moon to see my books out in the world once again.
Dear reader,
This latest book is something a little bit different for me as rather than purely fiction, which my previous books have been, The Forget-Me-Not Girl is a saga based on the life of a very special family member, my great-grandmother, Emma. It is not a biography, but rather inspired by the events of her life and the love for her husband and family.
Writing this book was certainly a labour of love and must have taken me more than seven years. I originally envisaged it as a three book project. Before I started writing, a lot of research was required, which mainly involved talking to those family and friends who knew and remembered Emma and TF, or those who had stories passed down through the family. Gradually I could piece together the story of Emma’s life and form a fuller picture of the wonderful woman she was.
I was very young at the end of Emma’s long life, but I still ‘see’ her in my mind’s eye, and have loved giving her a voice, which I hope others enjoy reading. Of course this is a novel, but I do feel I have captured Emma’s essence. I think she would have approved of my interpretation of her life and love for TF and her children.
One of my fondest, and only, memories of Emma – she died when I was just four-years-old – was at Swan House. She took me down the long garden to see if there were any walnuts on the tree, ready to pickle or to store for Christmas. It’s a memory I really treasure. It seems I have followed in Emma’s footsteps, as she was a great story teller and certainly used her imagination.
As a family we have a few photos of Emma throughout her life and when I saw the cover design for The Forget-Me-Not Girl it brought tears to my eyes. The girl looks just like my great-grandmother at her age and seems beautiful, but sad. Now that you have read the book you will realise that Emma certainly had some very hard times in her life, of heartbreak and loss, times when she was almost overwhelmed by events. She was a real survivor, the forget-me-not girl.
I hope you enjoyed reading The Forget-Me-Not Girl as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please do share your thoughts on the Memory Lane Facebook page MemoryLaneClub.
Best wishes,
Sheila
A Recipe for Norfolk Dumplings
You can’t imagine anything more ‘Norfick’ as the locals say, than a Norfolk Dumpling (aka Swimmers and Floaters)! Emma considered them a staple in her diet, and her family followed suit.
11 ounces of plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
Half a pint of milk
1 ounce of butter
A little water if needed
1. In a large bowl mix together all of the ingredients.
2. Add a little water if the mixture seems too dry.
3. Season to your liking.
4. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and drop it into a bubbling stew, soup or mince.
5. The dumplings should float to the surface (hence the name) and cook in the stew.
Should you prefer bigger dumplings, you can stuff them and boil in gravy. They will swell like puff balls!
Don’t miss Sheila Newberry’s next book, coming November 2019 . . .
A WINTER HOPE
All they want for Christmas is a new home
Number five Kitchener Avenue heralds the start of a new life for the Hope family. For pregnant Miriam it is a warm, safe environment to bring up her child. For her sister, fourteen-year-old Barbara, it means independence . . . and boys. And for Fred it means the security he craves for his young family.
In the lead up to Christmas, the Hopes settle in, and start to make happy memories in their new home. But World War II is round the corner, and this carefree life can’t last.
Soon the family are split up. Bar, wanting to do her bit for the war effort, joins the ATS, while Miriam and her children are evacuated to the countryside and away from her husband.
As the country is thrown into turmoil, can the Hope family come back together and find the happiness they crave?
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First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Zaffre
This ebook edition published in 2019 by
ZAFFRE
80-81 Wimpole St, London, W1G 9RE
Copyright © Sheila Newberry, 2019
Cover design by Nick Stearn
Cover image © Gordon Crabb
The moral right of Sheila Newberry to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
> All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events 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.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978–1–78576–538–4
Paperbook ISBN: 978–1–78576–539–1
This ebook was produced by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
Zaffre is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk
The Forget-Me-Not Girl Page 27
