Have now received the signed contract from Pen and Sword Books. It is really happening! My debut book…. I now have 21 days to produce some blurb (technical term apparently!) for the back of the book, some biog about myself and some ideas for the cover including old original photos. After that it is the long write up to my deadline of end March plus loads more lovely people to interview. If you are interested take a look at my publishers website at:
http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Exciting news today – Baroness Williams of Crosby (Shirley Williams) has agreed to write a foreword for Escaping Hitler:A Jewish Boy’s Quest for Freedom and A Future’. Her mother, writer and poet Vera Brittain, was at Oxford University with Günter’s first British guardian. Also Joe was part of the team that helped fight Shirley’s first by-election in Harwich back in the 1950s. I wrote to her recently and today I had the result! I am delighted.
One of the most rewarding aspects of researching and writing the biography of a person who is still living, is getting to know people he loved but are who no longer with us. After three years of interviewing Joe I am now writing up the story of how he met his wife Jean. I have been able to learn about her parents and siblings and have now found some lovely photos to complement the words. Jean died just over ten years ago after nearly sixty years of marriage. Joe still misses her very much. The photo shows Jean in the ATS at Bramley Camp in Hampshire during WW2 where she was a Ammunitions Examiner. Jean is top left. What an attractive group of young women……
Escaping Hitler: A Jewish Boy's Quest for Freedom and his Future 