I've previously shown off the cover and the blurb of my forthcoming book, A New Home at the Wartime Hotel, written as Maisie Thomas.
Now I'd like to introduce you to the background to the story. |  |
During the Second World War, an obvious feature of air raids was being bombed out. This meant your home was destroyed or else rendered uninhabitable. The normal thing to do in this situation was to move in with family, something that thousands upon thousands of people all over the country were obliged to do. When this happened, it almost always lasted for the duration of the entire war.
The worst time for air raids was the summer of 1940 through to the summer of 1941. If you lost your home during that time and had to move in with Auntie Ethel, the chances were that you’d still be at Auntie Ethel’s when the war ended in 1945… and for some considerable time afterwards.
It wasn’t just people who got displaced. Their possessions did too. In many cases, if a house took a direct hit, then all the furniture and other things were blown to smithereens; but if a house was simply damaged and made uninhabitable, very often many of the possessions were left intact – and they all had to be stored somewhere. You couldn’t take them with you to Auntie Ethel’s because she hadn’t got enough space, not least because Grandma, Auntie Flo, Cousin Rodney and the cat had also been bombed out and had moved in with her as well.
So where were all these possessions put? There were what we would refer to as storage facilities, but you won't be surprised to hear that these got filled up pretty quickly. People had to make whatever arrangements they could.
How about a small hotel, where they’ve lost all their guest-room furniture to the bailiffs, so they set themselves up as a storage place? Welcome to Dunbar’s!
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If you like the sound of this, here is the pre-order link. Publication day is March 27th.
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