Author Pam Lecky tells us about her Sarah Gillespie WW2 espionage series.
Starting out, I was unsure what I could bring to the WW2 genre that would be unique. But then I realized few had written about the war from a neutral Irish perspective. Luckily, all I had to do was delve into my family and local history for inspiration.
Essentially, the series is about spies and fifth columnists, a subject covered in depth both in print and on screen. This made research a lot easier than it often is for my Victorian murder mysteries, and soon I had the bones of a story, ideas for sub-plots, and an entire cast of characters dying to appear on the page.
How it all begins …
Eighty-two years ago, a German pilot dropped four bombs on neutral Dublin City. Ireland was still recovering from the War of Independence and the Civil War when WW2 broke out in Europe. The government at the time declared Ireland neutral, mainly because we had neither the manpower nor the resources to become involved in the conflict. Relations with Britain were already strained, and Ireland’s stance made Churchill furious. The complex relationship between the Irish and their ex-colonial masters interests me, and I explore it to some extent in all the novels.
The German attack on North Strand, which opens the first book, Her Secret War, happened only a few miles from where I grew up. As a young child, I passed the bombed-out sites regularly, but it wasn’t until my late teens I heard about the bombing and the relevant history. As I wanted to anchor the novels in Irish history, the story of what happened that night in North Strand, seemed an excellent starting point. My heroine, Sarah, is lucky enough to survive, but the incident changes her life, forcing her to make incredibly tough decisions. Like many Irish, she has family in Britain and when they hold out the offer of a new life and a job, Sarah leaves Ireland. Revenge for her sister’s death is key to that decision. Unfortunately, her new life slowly falls apart as her family history catches up with her, and she is drawn into the dark world of WW2 espionage. Needless to say, Sarah’s nationality leads to complications, and her loyalty is tested to the limit.
As Sarah’s story moves to the UK, I drew on my family history. My mother and her sisters left rural Ireland to work in Britain during WW2. One aunt followed her boyfriend, who had joined the RAF, and she worked in a munitions factory. Another aunt wanted to study nursing, and my mother was a ‘clippie’ (bus conductress) on the Birmingham buses. The novels are not their story, but there are glimpses of their experiences dotted throughout the fiction. The greatest challenge was getting up to speed on day-to-day life. I knew a lot about the overall timeline and events of the war, but it was the nitty-gritty details of life on the Homefront which would ground the stories in reality.
The second book, Her Last Betrayal, continues Sarah’s story. She is now employed by MI5 and must work with a new colleague, a US Naval Intelligence officer, who is hostile and suspicious of her motives. Their mission is to track down IRA members who are facilitating British fifth columnists and Abwehr agents entering and leaving the UK (something I discovered during research). Just as they appear to be making progress, one of the MI5 team is revealed to be a German mole. Their mission thrown into chaos, Sarah and Tony must learn to trust each other if they are to survive.
In the third and final novel in the series, The Last Letter from London, Sarah is now an experienced MI5 officer. However, she is about to face her most challenging assignment yet, for she becomes the handler for a mysterious French double agent (who was inspired by the real-life spy, Nathalie Lily Sergeuvei). Sarah must deal with the fallout from her agent’s extremely erratic behaviour. To say the women do not like or trust each other would be an understatement. I must admit it was great fun to write about the interaction between these two diametrically opposed characters, thrusting them together on a dangerous mission to Lisbon, which was the centre of European espionage.
All I had to do was sit back, watch them fight it out, and write up the field report!
(c) Pam Lecky
Pam’s Links: https://linktr.ee/pamlecky
The Sarah Gillespie series, published by Avon Book UK, is available in eBook, paperback and audiobook from all good bookstores and online retailers.
About The Last Letter from London:
Sarah Gillespie is back! The third gripping and emotional WWII historical fiction novel from Pam Lecky is available now!
Her letters can save the country. But can she be trusted?
A double agent.
As World War Two rages, MI5 agent Sarah Gillespie is faced with her toughest challenge yet: handling Adeline Vernier, a mysterious double agent from Paris.
A dangerous mission.
Adeline’s coded letters could help the Allies defeat the Germans – but, in return, she demands that her boyfriend is rescued from Nazi-occupied France. Adeline is not above threatening to double-cross MI5 to get what she wants, leaving Sarah fearful for the millions of lives at stake.
Letters that could change their lives forever.
As they embark on a secret operation through Lisbon, they must tread carefully to avoid the clutches of the Nazis. But will they make it out alive, together? Or is the enemy closer than they realise?
A gripping and completely addictive page-turner of extraordinary courage and bravery. Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn’s The Rose Code, and Pam Jenoff’s Code Name Sapphire.
Order your copy online here.
