We’re starting our new interview feature by welcoming Glynis Peters, author of The Secret Orphan.

Glynis Peters Author

Thanks for popping by to visit us.

Thanks for having me.

Please can you tell us a bit about your book?

The story is about a six-year old girl, Rose, from Coventry, and her friend, a young farmer’s daughter, Elenor, from Cornwall. They meet pre-WWII and a series of events change their lives dramatically. Elenor meets a Canadian pilot and they become pen pals, but something happens and they are pulled apart from the relationship they’d built. When war breaks out, a secret is shared with Elenor and it becomes obvious to her that little Rose’s life is in danger. When Elenor turns to Jackson St John for help, he’s there and between them they save Rose’s secret and keep her safe.

And the inspiration behind it.

The Canadian pilot was inspired by the poppy sellers of Vancouver, Canada. I was out there visiting my son and a young cadet in uniform smiled at me and I suddenly thought of what it must have been like for them during the war, and in a foreign country. Researching WWII as opposed to my usual Victorian era became an obsession once I’d read one true story after another. In the garden one day I heard a child’s voice tell me her name was Rose and she wanted her story to be heard. I looked up blitz stories and read more and more about Coventry. Rose told me her surname was Sherbourne, after the river in the city. Elenor’s character spoke to me after my mother showed me a few pictures of her holiday in Cornwall. I then decided the events surrounding Rose’s birth could quite easily have happened, and the rest is – a historical novel.

Are you traditionally published, a hybrid, or an indie? What are your favourite aspects of being a hybrid and what would you change about it?

With this book I am traditionally published with HarperImpulse / HarperCollins. As Glynis Smy, I am self-published. So I suppose that now makes me hybrid. I enjoyed the freedom I had as an indie, but it was never my original dream, so when I signed for HI, it made me feel complete as an author, despite having written five novels (six if you count the one in the drawer), and I enjoyed the challenge of a deadline. I’ve enjoyed working with a team and realised it works better for me, so am not sure I’d self-publish again unless I really had no other choice.

Can you tell us a little about your route to publication?

I was approached to write to a title by the Editing Director of HarperImpulse, Charlotte Ledger, after we’d met at a book launch. Her email came as a complete surprise and I ran through an idea with her and then wrote something completely different, which she loved, phew!

What have you learnt that you wished you’d known when you started writing and what would be your biggest tip for a new writer?

Give yourself a deadline and stick with it. I wrote The Secret Orphan in eight weeks. I broke down the word count into 2,000 words a day to get me to the 12 week agreement on the contract. Each day I crossed off on the calendar gave me a sense of achievement.  Because I’d ensured I stuck to the seat until I reached the 90,000 words they required, I found myself more focused and actually wrote more some days which balanced the day off I’d given myself. I’ve found having a deadline prevents procrastination.

I hate planning, but have now found a small amount of organised notes do help. I can’t follow strict plans, but have learned to keep note of birth dates etc. I did write about a character who would have been three when she’d given birth to her daughter because of slack note keeping.

Never worry about bad reviews. You cannot please everyone. Think about your own tastes compared to others, they differ. Just write what’s inside you and follow that dream. Oh, and save for an editor. They are valuable and I learned it later rather than at the start of my journey.

Bio

I am a historical novelist, and live by the sea in Essex, UK. I married my school sweetheart and we have three children, and three grandchildren. In 2019 we will celebrate 40 years of marriage. When I left nursing and moved to Cyprus in 2005, I wrote my first novel, and when I returned to live back in the UK in 2013, I’d written my fifth. In 2014, I was short-listed for the Festival of Romantic Fiction New Talent Award.

I’m now classed as a hybrid author due to the fact I signed a contract with HarperImpulse/HarperCollins, and have been self-published for ten years.

My traditional published book released Nov 9th 2018 in digital format, and paperback in 2019, is The Secret Orphan and is the first WWII book I’ve written. In the past it has been the Victorian era which has captured my attention, but the challenge of a new path has made me seek a new era as I also love the research process. It is my sixth novel, but my first as Glynis Peters.

When I am not writing I fish with my husband, or make greetings cards. I also enjoy cross-stitch, and love playing with my granddaughters who live nearby. Our grandson lives in Canada and it is that reason I introduced a Canadian pilot into The Secret Orphan.

Blurb

Keep her secret

Keep her safe

On the 14th November 1940, Hitler’s bombs rain down on Coventry. From the rubble of a bombed-out family home, a young girl is saved … but at what cost?

As the Nazis’ relentless bombs fall during the Blitz of Coventry, six-year-old Rose Sherbourne finds herself orphaned and under the guardianship of a Cornish farmer’s daughter, Elenor Cardew.

Elenor knows that the only way to protect spirited Rose is to leave the city and make a new life for themselves away from harm. But soon Elenor discovers that Hitler’s firestorm is not the only thing she must fear when she learns a devastating secret about Rose.

With Rose’s life in imminent danger, Elenor turns to the only person she can trust to keep the deadly secret, heroic Canadian pilot, Jackson St John. And amidst the destruction of war, an unlikely romance blossoms as they find a way to protect the child they have both grown to love…and each other.

Publisher

HarperImpulse (9 Nov. 2018) (Paperback January 2019) UK  (December 18th Canada)

The Secret Orphan is out tomorrow!  Buy your copy HERE

Links

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/glynispetersauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_GlynisPeters_

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glynispetersauthor/

Website: Glynis Peters Author

Many thanks to The Blonde Plotters for hosting me today.

Thanks for stopping by Glynis, we love the sound of The Secret Orphan and look forward to reviewing it for this site.