[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”19px” text_line_height=”1.3em” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
30 April 2024<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”19px” text_line_height=”1.3em” link_font_size=”19px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Vicki Beeby writes historical fiction about the friendships and loves of service women brought together by the Second World War. Suffolk readers will already be familiar with her series about the Wrens, The Ops room girls and the Bomber command series. Vicki’s latest book is A Wedding for the Bomber Girls<\/em><\/a> which is published by Canelo on 25th April.<\/p>\n You can find A Wedding for the Bomber Girls<\/em> and Vicki’s other books on the Suffolk Community Libraries catalogue<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”19px” text_line_height=”1.3em” link_font_size=”19px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″] <\/p>\n Who were your heroes or heroines as you were growing up?\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n Is it wrong that all my heroes and heroines were fictional? I devoured books from a young age and particularly loved adventure books by authors like Enid Blyton and Willard Price, and when I\u2019d finished all my books, I moved onto my brother\u2019s Biggles books. So my earliest heroes were the characters from those stories, although I remember being frustrated that not many were girls.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When did your interest in writing really develop?\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always loved writing stories, and my earliest ambition was to be an author. Then real life got in the way, and I found that I also loved maths, science and engineering, and got sidetracked into various careers related to that. However, all the time I kept a diary and continued to write purely for my own enjoyment. Then in the 2000s it became possible to publish fiction and fanfiction on the internet, and that\u2019s when I finally plucked up the courage to post some of my own work. I was encouraged by the response and that\u2019s when I resurrected my old dream of being a published author. It still took a long time but I got there in the end!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It may surprise some of your readers that you also wrote romantic fiction under the name Tora Williams which were set in the Norman era. What made you change to writing about WWII?\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n I love fiction set in medieval times, especially the Anarchy, but the sad truth is that it doesn\u2019t really sell (Or maybe it’s just my books that didn’t sell!) So as much as I enjoyed writing it, I knew that I would have to set my work in a different time period if I wanted to pay the bills. Then I visited the RAF Museum in Cosford and found myself bombarded by so many ideas that I knew I wanted to use the second world war as the setting of my next book. And that book became The Ops Room Girls and was what got me my agent and next publisher.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How do you identify a good subject to write about and what part does research play?\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n I usually have loads of ideas buzzing around my head and am often struck by a new idea when I least expect it. For example, I visited Orkney in 2019 to visit the Neolithic sites, and went with no intention of looking for book inspiration. But while I was there I found out about the women in the WRNS who served there during the war and a character idea popped into my head of a well-to-do young woman who joins the WRNS expecting to be posted to a bustling port like Portsmouth, only to end up in a remote signal station in Orkney. I was working on my first Ops Room Girls book at the time and so had to put that idea aside for a couple of years, but when my publisher asked if I had any thoughts for a new series, I had it ready to go.<\/p>\n Research is hugely important, and I do a lot of reading around the subject, visiting museums, historical sites and archives. I also like to experience as much of what I write about as possible, so, for example, I taught myself Morse for my Wrens books. It\u2019s important to me that my readers feel immersed in the story, so I try really hard to get all the little details right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You are always careful to balance the realities of war with the characters in your stories. Is that something you find easy to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n Not at all! I write heartwarming, romantic fiction yet at the same time I can\u2019t ignore the brutal reality of war. I found it particularly difficult when starting my Bomber Command series, because the casualty rate among the bomber crews was shockingly high, and the odds were very much against their survival. Reading memoirs written by the women and men who worked in Bomber Command, I was fascinated by the ways different personalities handled the situation, and this gave me the inspiration for the heroine and hero of the first book in the series \u2013 The Girls of Bomber Command<\/em><\/a>. The heroine, Pearl, is over-protective and risk-averse, yet falls for a pilot, Greg, who handles the stress by taking risks because it\u2019s the only way he feels alive. Pearl\u2019s struggle to decide if she can face the potential heartbreak becomes the central romantic arc of the story.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can you tell us a little about your new book A Wedding for the Bomber Girls<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and what it was like to write?\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n A Wedding for the Bomber Girls<\/em> is the second in a series of four books set in a fictional Bomber Command station in Lincolnshire. The heroine, Thea, is something of a misfit and has to help her sister plan her wedding while being shunned by most of the women on the base. Then, just when she seems to have got her life back in order, a shadowy figure from her past returns and threatens to ruin not just her but her sister\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n Your previous question asked about balancing the characters with the realities of war, and this is a case in point, because not only does the book feature the heroines having fun trying to find a wedding dress in wartime, but it also looks at the way aircrew suffering from stress were treated at a time when conditions such as PTSD weren\u2019t even recognised. Juggling the light and dark elements in this story was a real challenge.\u200d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What’s next for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u200dThere are still two more books in the series to come \u2013 a Christmas book later this year and the final book out in spring 2025. I\u2019ve already written the Christmas book and am awaiting edits and have just started work on book four. I wish I could share the titles with you but I don\u2019t have them yet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are always looking for good book recommendations. Aside from your own work what have you read recently that you really enjoyed?\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n I recently took a bit of a break and read a few sagas that I\u2019d put off reading while I was writing. I was lucky enough to be sent a review copy of Kirsty Dougal\u2019s Wartime on Sanctuary Lane<\/em><\/a> about a young munitions worker\u2019s attempts to set up a clinic for animals in London\u2019s East End, and I thoroughly enjoyed that. I also loved Helen Yendall\u2019s The Highland Girls on Guard<\/em><\/a>, the second in a series about women working in the Women\u2019s Timber Corps.\u200d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You have links with Suffolk and Ipswich in particular. What are your memories of that time?<\/strong><\/p>\n I moved to Ipswich in the 90s for my first teaching job. It\u2019s the only time I\u2019ve ever lived near the sea, and I fell in love with places like Nacton, Orford and Aldeburgh. I took up cycling to help me deal with the stress of work, and having such lovely countryside on the doorstep was a real bonus. Another great stress-buster for me is reading, and so I used to spend long hours in the library, borrowing stacks of books at a time. I actually lived around the corner from Rosehill library, so I would go there when I didn\u2019t have the time to visit the one in the town centre. It was a tiny place, so I hope it\u2019s still going. I think I finished all the books to my taste from there in the first month, then used it to order books from other libraries. I must have been responsible for an awful lot of books being transported around the county, but it was a real life-saver for me!\u200d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m licensed to drive HGVs in Botswana. I went to teach in Botswana in the late 90s and needed to get a driving licence. I\u2019m sure everything\u2019s computerised now, but back then the driving licences consisted of a folded piece of card with a stapled photo and details handwritten on one side and a table of all the categories of vehicle on the other. The man issuing the licence was supposed to put a stamp next to the \u2018car\u2019 entry and another for the \u2018motorcycle\u2019 one but he got distracted and stamped \u2018car\u2019 and \u2018HGV\u2019. I hasten to add that I never exercised my right to drive HGVs but I always fancied having a go.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Historical fiction author Vicki Beeby talks to us about her latest wartime romance ‘A Wedding for the Bomber Girls’ and the time she was licensed to drive HGVs in Botswana.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":44860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meet-the-author"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n