Even amid the war, a broken heart can heal …
Today I join Nancy Revell on tour with the fourth book in her saga series The Shipyard Girls, entitled Shipyard Girls in Love. Set in Sunderland this series brings the reader into the world of these brave women who carried out some of the most dangerous work during war time, yet received very little recognition for their strength and bravery.
These books are Nancy Revell’s tribute to these women.
Published with Arrow Books, Shipyard Girls in Love is now available to purchase.
Nancy kindly answered some questions for me today so please do continue reading…
Book Info:
Sunderland, 1941
With a brief break in air raids providing some much-needed respite from the war, things are looking up for head welder Rosie, who has fallen head over heels for Detective Sergeant Miller. But how long can their romance last in such uncertain times?Life remains full of challenges for Gloria, who must face her abusive ex-husband and confront her own guilty conscience about baby Hope’s real father. The secret is tearing her apart but if she admits the truth, she will risk losing everything.
Both women are determined that their love and faith will be enough to keep the most difficult of promises, but nothing is as simple as it seems …
Purchase Link ~ Shipyard Girls in Love
Nancy you worked for many years with the tabloids investigating unsolved murders, exposing sex-offenders and writing about many of the injustices in society. What ignited this journalistic spark in you? Did you always wish to be a journalist?
Yes, I did! I remember being about fourteen and deciding that I’d be a journalist, even though I wasn’t at all media-savvy. It just seemed like an interesting and exciting job, but, more than anything, I reckoned it would be a way of writing and earning a living. And I was right. In fact, it was much more exciting and interesting than I’d imagined, especially after I made the leap from local to national newspapers. I was in my element, chasing stories, interviewing people, then racing back to the office and transforming what I had heard and seen into news reports, or more lengthy features. Throughout it all, though, my ultimate aim was always to write books and become a published author.
People love to read stories about strong and inspirational women. As part of your research for The Shipyard Girls Series you had the opportunity to speak to some real-life women who worked as shipbuilders during the war. Could you share a favourite story with us here today?
One of my favourite real life stories is about a young woman called Mattie who was working in the china department in Binns (which was Sunderland’s equivalent to Harrods). When Mattie found out her fiancée had been killed in action, she went straight down to the town’s Labour Exchange and asked for a job in the shipyards. She was taken on as a riveter, one of the hardest jobs in the yard. She said it was her way of doing something to help win the war – and to fight those who had taken the life of man she had loved so dearly. It took Mattie another twenty years before she fell in love again. By that time she was forty. She was happily married but never had children.
You are called a Saga Author and those who read your novels are termed Saga Readers. What exactly does this mean and how did you begin writing in this genre?
I started writing in this genre when my agent asked if I’d like to pitch an idea to Arrow (my publisher) for a new saga series set in WWII. The idea about women shipyard workers stepping into the men’s boots after they’d gone off to war became The Shipyard Girls series. Book 4, Shipyard Girls in Love, has just been published, and I’ve just finished Book 5 Victory for the Shipyard Girls which is out in September, so it really is turning into quite a saga! The exact definition of the word saga means ‘saying’, and comes from the Icelandic language and refers to Old Norse and Icelandic family stories. Broadly speaking, though, I would say saga is historical fiction which follows the lives of a closely-knit group of people or families.
About the Author:
Nancy Revell is a writer and journalist under another name, and has worked for many national newspapers, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She has also worked for just about every woman’s magazine, writing amazing and inspirational true life stories.
Nancy has recently relocated back to her home town of Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, with her husband Paul and their English Bull Mastiff, Rosie. They live a short walk from the beautiful, award-winning beaches ofRoker and Seaburn, within a mile of where The Shipyard Girls series is set. The subject is close to Nancy’s heart as she comes from a long line of shipbuilders, who were well-known in the area.
Twitter ~ @arevellwalton
