Our Castle by the Sea
Page 20
The lady looks very thin and tired. She is clutching a handkerchief in her fist—she has been crying, and, as she stands there, looking up at the Castle, she begins to cry once more. She holds on to the fence to steady herself.
An old man has walked down the path from the cottage to the garden gate. I draw him holding the gate open for the lady to come through, with her battered brown suitcase. The two of them stand there for a moment, neither of them saying anything. The old man holds out his hand; then it falls back to his side again. It is a strange gesture—he does not know what to do, and she does not know what to do either. Then he opens both his arms and she steps quickly into his embrace.
I draw them standing together, her face pressed against his shoulder. She is crying, and there are tears running down his face too. He pats her back gently, as a father would his child. Perhaps he is saying something to her very quietly. Perhaps she understands.
I draw them walking up the path to the cottage side by side. He carries her suitcase for her. She is looking up towards me here in the lantern room. The hand clutching the handkerchief is over her heart, and I wonder if hers is aching as much as mine is at this moment.
Do you think she can she see me here at the window, looking down at her? The bright sun is behind me. I am just a shadow at the moment.
The song of the stones is humming soft and sweet all around the lighthouse now.
Today is the day, I think, for one last miracle.
I lift my hand from the paper at last and dare to look out of the window.
Our Castle by the Sea is mostly set during the first year of the Second World War. While the story of Petra and her family is entirely fictional, the events happening around them—such as the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers and the passing of the Treachery Act in May 1940—are very real indeed.
“Enemy aliens” (German, Austrian, and Italian nationals living in Great Britain) were assessed and categorized at tribunals, and many thousands were interned. A significant percentage of these were refugees, but the situation was seen to be urgent and dangerous: the risk of foreign spies helping the enemy threatened Britain’s war effort. It was considered too complicated and time-consuming to separate those who were fleeing the Nazis from those who supported them, so they were all interned together.
Thousands of foreign nationals were deported. The SS Arandora Star was hit by torpedoes from a German U-boat on July 2, 1940. Over 800 people died, most of whom were male German and Italian internees being deported to Canada together with some German prisoners of war.
German U-boats were active in the English Channel during the latter months of 1939, but not—as far as I know—in October 1940, and there was no attempted landing on the Kent coast at this time, so this is perhaps the point at which I have taken the greatest liberties with the truth for the purposes of Petra’s story.
The story is set on the coast of Kent, not far from Dover, but Dragon Bay and the village of Stonegate are fictional. Petra’s “Castle” is inspired partly by both the North Foreland and South Foreland Lighthouses, and Goodwin Sands sparked the idea of the dreaded Wyrm.
Following Germany’s invasion of France on May 10th, 1940, British, Belgian and French forces were trapped along the north coast of France. Between May 26 and June 4, over 300,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk. Hundreds of British fishing boats, lifeboats and pleasure craft assisted in the evacuation. The situation for the Allies had looked hopeless, and the successful rescue of so many men was described by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a “miracle.”
The writing of Our Castle by the Sea was a project supported by Arts Council England, so I would like to begin by thanking this wonderful institution for all the utterly brilliant work they do.
Thank you, the reader, for meeting me halfway with your extraordinary imagination, for enjoying my story, for becoming attached to my characters, and for getting in touch to tell me all about your favorite bits. Thank you to all the bookworms, book bloggers, teachers, librarians, reviewers, and Twitterers out there for loving children’s literature and telling the world that it is important.
Enormous thanks, as always, to the one and only Barry Cunningham and to Rachel Leyshon—the kindest and cleverest editor in the business: no one else can light the blue touchpaper (creatively speaking) quite like Rachel does. Thank you also to all the fabulous Chickens—Rachel H., Laura, Jazz, Elinor, Kesia, Sarah, Esther, and Lucy—for your continued enthusiasm, hard work, and diligence, and for your patience when I was trying to edit the book at the same time as being heavily pregnant/looking after a new baby! I love being part of the Chicken House coop, and am so grateful for the support of all my fellow Chicken authors—you guys rock the reading world.
Thank you to Daphne (the genius copy editor), my meticulous proofreader, and to my friend and historical consultant, Graham Noble, for giving me so much of his precious time: please accept my humble apologies for the points at which I have chosen the integrity of the story over factual precision. Helen Crawford-White has, as always, worked her unique magic with the cover design and illustrations—thank you, Helen, for this beautiful interpretation of Petra and her clifftop home.
Thank you to Luigi and Alison Bonomi for offering not only representation and creative advice, but kindness and friendship as well. I am so happy and grateful to be tucked beneath the LBA wing.
Thanks also go to Kinn Hamilton Mcintosh and Heather Stennett for all their painstaking work in this corner of Kent, gathering local accounts of the Second World War. Their collections of real memories from the war were so valuable to me in creating this story.
My friends and colleagues at Kent College Canterbury have been the most fantastic help facilitating and encouraging my work as a writer. Particular thanks go to the English Department for cheering me on, and for stepping in as proofreaders at the last minute!
Many thanks to the hard-working and knowledgeable volunteers at the many lighthouses I visited during my research, particularly those at the South Foreland Lighthouse at St. Margaret’s Bay. Thanks also to the staff at the beautiful Belle Tout Lighthouse, Beachy Head. I must mention here the paintings of Eric Ravilious that I love so much, especially the view from the Belle Tout lantern room, which was the starting point for this book.
I am profoundly grateful for the support of my lovely friends, my amazing parents, all the Strange clan, and the Barbers too! A special thank you to my wonderful partner, James, who has driven me to lots of lighthouses and kept me smiling through what has been the most incredible year of challenges and miracles. Thank you for your help with this book and for your hugs and encouragement when it was all a bit overwhelming.
Thank you to the Moo for dozing by my side during those long and difficult rewrites, and, last but by no means least, thank you little Fred (aka Grumbledore)—even though you won’t be able to read this for a few years yet—for making me the happiest mum in the world. I have so many wonderful stories to tell you, my darling.
Lucy Strange worked as an actor, singer, and storyteller before becoming a high school teacher. She lives in the English countryside with her partner, James, their baby boy, and a tortoiseshell cat known as the Moo. Our Castle by the Sea is Lucy’s second novel for Chicken House, following her critically acclaimed debut The Secret of Nightingale Wood.
Copyright © 2018, 2019 by Lucy Strange
All rights reserved. Published by Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, CHICKEN HOUSE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Chicken House, 2 Palmer Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1DS.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, May 2019
Jacket art © 2019 by Helen Crawford-White
Jacket design by Shivana Sookdeo
Author photo by Claudine Sinnett
e-ISBN 978-1-338-35387-7
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