Dear readers friends,
my next book, A Girls’ Guide To Winning The War, is out later this month and I’m so excited to share this book with you. It tells the story of whip-smart librarian Peggy Sparks, who is determined to bring her brother Joe home from the war so jumps at the chance when she’s offered a job in the heart of the war effort. Unfortunately, she finds herself working under the fanciful socialite Lady Marigold Cecily, who is keener on dancing at the Café de Paris than ending the war. Writing accounts of her daily life is the only thing keeping Peggy’s hopes alive. But when her inner-most thoughts are accidentally published by the Ministry of Information, Peggy realises she needs Marigold’s help to save her job, and to bring her brother home. Like my previous novel, The Air Raid Book Club, this is a story which pays homage to books, reading and the written word. Both novels are particularly special to me as I’ve spent my life around books, from trips to the library with my Mum as a child to my early career as a bookseller on Charing Cross Road and then over ten years in publishing and now as a writer and creative writing teacher. I loved researching this novel as the Ministry of Information (which served as the inspiration for the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984) was a fascinating place. Responsible for filtering out all news, propaganda and information to the public during the Second World War, it wasn’t quite the sinister dystopian authority of Orwell’s novel. It was however, staffed by many famous writers such as Graham Greene, Laurie Lee and Orwell himself. It felt like the perfect place to set a novel about the power of the written word and the effect it had on the war effort. I can’t wait for you to meet Peggy and Marigold and to hear what you think of their story.
Happy reading!
Annie x
Annie Lyons 