Welcome to Susanna Bavin's Website.
I am a saga writer living on the beautiful North Wales coast, but I am originally from Manchester, which is where my books are set.
I am represented by Camilla Shestopal of Shesto Literary.
I also write as Polly Heron and as Maisie Thomas. I am on Facebook as Maisie.
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Latest News:
Welcome to publication week! A New Home at the Wartime Hotel comes out on Thursday.
Here are quotes from some of the NetGalley reviews: "I don’t think there’s another writer who recreates the Second World War home front as well as Maisie Thomas." "Oh, this was an absolute joy to read. It was also impossible to put it down. The characters, the storyline... Everything about it was simply adorable. More of the same please!" "A truly touching remarkable story that will leave you wanting more. I was so engrossed all the way through, and the end left me eagerly waiting for book two. Amazing feel good read. I loved it." (Thanks, Bev!) "I have previously read and enjoyed Maisie's books and this is no exception. I really loved it. From the first few pages I was drawn into the storyline.... A cracking five-star read." "I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in a new series by Maisie Thomas." (Thanks, Meena!) "It's a charming story full of heart and wit that is the perfect place to take your mind away from your own troubles for a while. I laughed and smiled with pleasure whilst reading and getting to know the characters who I adore. It was nice to curl up with this heartwarming tale and a cuppa!" "BRILLIANT! I loved the story, the friendships, the drama! I can't wait to read more of Maisie's work. I thought the characters were well-written and I can't wait to find out more about them!"
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Courage for the Home Front Girls, book 2 in the series, is currently 99p on Kindle. This price will remain in place until the end of March.
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Wow! My Home Front Girls series has received over 6.5 million page-swipes on Kindle Unlimited. I'm delighted and honoured to think of my books being so popular. h
And if you a KU reader, you may also like to know that The Deserter's Daughter, as well as two of my Surplus Girls books written as Polly Heron - The Surplus Girls and The Surplus Girls' Orphans - are also available on Kindle Unlimited.
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If you would like to sign up to my Maisie Thomas newsletter, please click here to subscribe.
A New Home at the Wartime Hotel now has its own page here on my website. Do take a look by clicking on the tab.
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A New Home at the Wartime Hotel will be published on March 27th. You can pre-order the Kindle version here and the paperback here.
* * * * Huge thanks to everyone who has already pre-ordered A Wedding for the Home Front Girls. If you haven't, the Kindle version can be pre-ordered through this link: https://geni.us/B0DPHVQWB3cover The book will also be available in paperback, but that can't be pre-ordered yet. I'll let you know when it can be.
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My Blog In recent weeks on my blog, I've introduced the background to my latest book, and also Kitty, Lily and Beatrice, the viewpoint characters in A New Home at the Wartime Hotel. I hope you're going to take Kitty, Lily and Beatrice to your hearts just as you did the Railway Girls characters.
In this week's blog, I'm sharing why I wrote the story. h
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The Home Front Girls series is set in and around a salvage depot, so in this blog, I take a look at salvage - what we would today call recycling - on the Home Front in the Second World War.
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Susanna Bavin Sagas
I have written four stand-alone sagas:
The Deserter's Daughter and A Respectable Woman, both set in the 1920s; The Sewing Room Girl, a Victorian saga; and The Poor Relation, which is set in Edwardian times.
The Deserter's Daughter is available on Kindle Unlimited.
h I am currently writing a Second World War saga series called the Home Front Girls, of which the first two books - The Home Front Girls and Courage for the Home Front Girls - have so far been published. Both titles are on Kindle Unlimited.
Link to my author page on Amazon.
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Writing as Polly Heron.
| As Polly Heron, I write The Surplus Girls 1920s saga series about young women striving for independence after the Great War. |  |
Who were the Surplus Girls? h
Surplus girls were that generation of young woman who, because of the loss of life on the battlefields of the First World War, missed out on the opportunity to marry - which was, of course, seen as the purpose of a woman's life at that time. Instead, they suddenly found themselves in the position of having to support themselves for a lifetime, and without the necessary education and training behind them.
The four Surplus Girls novels in order are:
Christmas with the Surplus Girls
New Beginnings for the Surplus Girls
| Books 1 and 2, The Surplus Girls and The Surplus Girls' Orphans, are both available on Kindle Unlimited. |  |
 | The first three Surplus Girls books are also available in a single volume on Kindle. |
For further information about the background to the series, and also to find out about the wonderful bookcovers, visit my Polly Heron website.
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Writing as Maisie Thomas
As Maisie Thomas I write The Railway Girls saga series about the brave women and girls working on Britain's railways during the Second World War from early in 1940 until D Day in June 1944.
Here is the link to my Maisie page on Amazon. |  |
The Railway Girls in order are:
2. Secrets of the Railway Girls
4. Christmas with the Railway Girls
6. A Christmas Miracle for the Railway Girls
7. Courage of the Railway Girls
8. Christmas Wishes for the Railway Girls
9. Springtime with the Railway Girls
To read the blurbs and see the bookcovers, please click on the Maisie Thomas Books tab over on the left.
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Finding me online:
Here are my Amazon author pages for me writing as Susanna and as Polly and Maisie.
And here is my Twitter link for Susanna - and here are Polly's and Maisie's.
Here is my Polly Heron website, with lots more information about the Surplus Girls series.
And you can find me on Facebook on my Maisie Thomas author page for the latest information about all my books - Susanna's and Polly's as well as Maisie's. I also share snippets I've found in my research as well as other things I hope my readers will enjoy. As a community, every weekend we share what we're currently reading. We're a friendly lot, so do join us!
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A Selection of Popular Blogse take a look at my latest blog to find ways to order Springtime with the Railw
 | In this blog, I wrote about choosing names for book-characters and what happens when names are too similar.
And in this blog I'm following the same theme of names. Here, you can find out what happened when changing a character's name involved creating a whole new person. |
Have you ever wondered about all the work done on the Home Front to keep people safe? In an earlier blog, I take a look at the work of the ARP - Air Raid Precautions. You may not realise the large number of different and very important jobs this covered. I hope you'll enjoy my blog on the subject.
In an earlier blog, I explain something of the planning process that lay behind The Surplus Girls series; and also take a close look at Belinda, the heroine of book 1.
Click here to see the blog. |  |
In a very popular blog, I looked at a Railway Girls character who captured readers' hearts from the moment she first appeared on the page.
To read about lovely Dot Green, click here. |  |
 | And here is another very popular Railway Girls blog - this time concentrating on Joan. Click here. |
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A Look at My Bookshelves:
These are some of the books that help me write my books.
| The history of costume has been a great interest of mine for many years and here are some of the books that I refer to not just when I'm writing but also for pleasure. |  |
 | This dictionary of words that entered the language in the 20th Century has been invaluable to me. |
| These are the railway books that have helped me write the Railway Girls series. |  |
Here are some of my Second World War books:
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| This cookery book - which a present to me on my 21st birthday - has proved invaluable as a reference tool. |  |
 | Here are some of the books that helped provide meals in my Railway Girls books and Home Front Girls books. |
| Sometimes a couple of sentences is all it takes. A couple of lines from this book of oral history ended up inspiring a whole chapter of The Railway Girls in Love. (If you're wondering, it's the chapter involving the incendiary and the dustbin lid.) |  |
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Living by the sea:
I love living in Llandudno. We've been here for eleven years now, but that "Wow! We really live here," feeling never goes away.
Take a look at some of my favourite photos by clicking on the Llandudno tab.
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