TALES OF LOVE IN WARTIME

HEATHER LARGE MEETS AN AUTHOR WHOSE BOOKS ARE FILLED WITH HEART-WARMING STORIES OF ROMANCE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Her characters may be living through extraordinary times but they can always be guaranteed alove story with ahappy ending. Vicki Beeby writes historical romance fiction aboutthe friendships andloves of service women brought together by the Second World War.

So far,her heart-warming sagas have provided aglimpse into life in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as well as what it was like to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as The Wrens.

Her heroines’ romantic relationships are naturally acentral theme of all her novels but her books alsocelebrate the bonds of friendships formed along theway

“Writing romance is almost like amathematical puzzle,” says Vicki, who lives in Newport. “I’ve got two people who belong together andIhave to think about what it is that makes them right for each other

“I also like writing about agroups of people who have been thrown together and would not necessarily have become friends otherwise. Idofeel very strongly about happy endings. With the books Ilike to read, Ilike the security of knowing that everything will end well.

“People have told me the same about my books. People going through chemotherapy and bereavement have said they can’t bear to read anything unless they know it’s going to end well.

“My books are set against the war and difficult times, but there is the promise that it will also be ok in the end,” she explains.

Despite alife-long love of writing, Vicki’s first jobwas as acivil engineer on asewage treatment project. Since then, she has worked as amaths teacher and education consultant before turning freelance to give herself more time to write.

“Ever since Ihad been at school, Ihad longed to be awriter but then life got in the way.Ialways used to write in adiary and I would jot down little stories and ideas.

“I went to teach in Botswana for awhile and we taught very early in the morning until the afternoon which was for asiesta. I started to write alot more then.

“In 2010, Idecided Iwanted to write abook. Istarted writing morestories and found what Ienjoyed waswriting about relationships, both romantic andfriendships,” she explains.

Tenyears ago Vicki joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s (RNA) under the New Writers’ Scheme, which gave her the focus and motivation shesays she’d previously been missing.

“Wehad to submit amanuscript every year.Having a deadline made me knuckle down. It’s very easy to say you’re going to write, it’s much harder to sit at the computer and get on with it,” she explains.

Originally,she sethad her sights on writing for Mills & Boon, the UK’s biggest publisher of romantic fiction, but was told her books featured too many characters.

“They said it needed to be all about the hero andheroine but Iliked to also write about all of thefriends around them,” says Vicki.

Her medieval romances did however catch the attention of publisher The Wild Rose Presswhich ledtothree novels being published under the pen name Tora Williams. And in 2020, after athree-book deal with Canelo for asaga series following three young women who sign up to the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force to join in the war effort.

The first book, The Op Room Girls, is set against the background of Dunkirkand theBattle of Britain.

It follows the story of Evie Bishop, aworking-classgirl who joins the WAAF near the start of World WarTwo after having her hopes of an Oxford Scholarship to study mathematics dashed.

She is posted to the operations room of an RAF fighter station where she befriends two other WAAFs –shy,awkward May and flirty,glamorous Jess.

“I liked the idea of writing about the Second World War because, for women, it was time when they got ataste of freedom. Iused to love watching old war films but Iwould get frustrated thattheywould be focused on the heroics of men and women tended to be ajust adecorationinthe background.

“I was curious about the women in somescenes in Battle of

Britain films, who couldbeseen pushing blocks around achart on alarge table. Iused to think ‘what aretheydoing?’.

“When Iwas researching the WAAFs, Idiscovered that these women were Op Room plotters and they were tracking where all the enemy and friendly aircraft were in the sky.Itwas interesting to find out what they were doing because it was avital role. I decided, as they required an aptitude for mathematics, that Evie would be aplotter,” explains Vicki.

Since then the second and thirds books in the series –Christmas With The Op Room Girls and Victory ForThe Op Room Girls –have been published.

And Vicki has also written asecond saga aboutthree women whojoin The Wrensand the first book ANew Start ForThe Wrens, which was published last year,was recently named the Best Romantic Saga Novel at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards. It follows three newly-trained Wrens– Sally, Iris, and Mary –who aresent to Orkney to help protect Britain’s coastline. n Hopeful Hearts ForThe Wrensis published on March 30

“The first time Ivisited Orkney Iwas moved and inspired by the tales of the men and women who served there during thewar and IknewIwanted to set abook there,” says Vicki.

As her heroines are visual signallers, her researchfor the series included learning Morse code to help her writethe Morse code exchanges in the book.

“I needed to understand what they did as well as daily life things like: how did they get letters?WhenIwas writing the first draft, Iwould leave space where Ineeded to do research so my first draft was full of notes to myself to research,” says Vicki.

The second book in the series –AWrens’ Wartime Christmas –was published last year,and the final partofthe saga –Hopeful Hearts for the Wrens– is released on March 30.

“I’ve been really pleased with how they’ve been received. I’ve had alot of contact from former Wrensand WAAFs, who are in their late 40s and 50s, and they’ve said this was just what life was like,” says Vicki.

She has recently finished the first draft for athird saga, also set during the Second World War, but has to remain tight-lipped on the exact details. “I feel really sad when I finish a series because I’ve been writing about three friends and they’ve started to feel like friends to me too. It’s hard to let them go and move on to another set of friends. But I’m excited about the new series and hope readers will like it too,” says Vicki.