Mary, Anne, Iris and tough little Effie form a formidable group when, in 1939, they join the FANYs, or more precisely the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, euphemistically calling themselves 'The Glory Girls'. However, the glory they dreamed of is short-lived as their unit moves from the London blitz to occupied France. Forbidden love, betrayal and tragedy stalk them and as their personal courage is tried - and sometimes found lacking - survival seems to depend largely on luck. This is especially so for Mary. As a Special Operations Executive, and with very little training, she is sent behind enemy lines in a desperate attempt to save the lives of men in a safe house under Nazi threat. And now her only contact has been murdered by the Gestapo...
This is a book I never expected to write. During the
Christmas holidays of 2005, while I was researching for a half-written
saga, I came upon the infomation that the FANYs (First Aid Nursing
Yeomanry) were to celebrate their centenary in November 2007. Something
clicked and I mentioned to my agent that it might be a good idea to write a
saga with a FANY background. He was immediately excited by this idea. The
bad news was that if I wrote it at all, it would have to be delivered to
the publisher by the end of June 2006. I bit the bullet and said I would
do it. The book I was already writing, was put on the shelf and, in
January 2006 I started to research, with not even a storyline in sight.
However, the story soon presented itself to me in the form of a small group
of unlikely lasses from the north-east of England who joined the FANYs in
1939. But my agent wanted the story to start with the First World War. We
agreed on a prologue and I took the story from the early 1900's to 1945,
ending with an epilogue set in 2007. The first draft was finished by the
middle of March and my agent suggested that it would be nice to present the
completed typescript to the publisher by the end of April 2006. I took a
day or two to catch my breath and give myself a pep-talk - and achieved the
very tight deadline with two days to spare. The Glory Girls is possibly
the most exciting book I have written to date and the saga that it was at
the beginning turned (according to my agent) into a wartime thriller. I am
delighted with this news, since my life's ambition has been to be a
thriller writer. I can't tell you the euphoria I experienced when the book
was immediately accepted. It will now be published on 30th March and I can
promise my faithful reader followers that there are better things to come.
