Love blossoms in Newport author's wartime mystery
Vicki Beeby has become known for heart-lifting stories set against a backdrop of the Second World War.
She loves to write about the friendships and loves of women brought together by the war effort.
Now the romance author’s new series is set to provide an insight into what life was like for those serving in Bomber Command.
And, as with all her books, readers can expect a love story with a guaranteed happy ending.
“I think people who read romance novels like a happy ending – and I like writing happy endings,” says Vicki, who lives in Newport.
“Readers who have been going through chemotherapy have told me that they can’t cope with too many bad things happening, they like my books because they feel like they are in safe hands. Although bad things might happen in my books – they know that the main love story is always going to have a happy ending.”
Vicki has always enjoyed writing but it wasn’t until 2010 that she decided to challenge herself to pen a novel.
Her first job was as a civil engineer on a sewage treatment project and since then Vicki has worked as a maths teacher and education consultant. She turned freelance to give herself more time to write and found herself drawn to creating stories about relationships, both romantic and friendships.
Vicki received support and motivation by joining the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s (RNA) under the New Writers’ Scheme
Although her manuscripts failed to win the approval of Mills & Boon, she did have success with three medieval romance stories which were published by The Wild Rose Press under the pen name Tora Williams.
Inspired by a love of watching old war movies, she began setting her stories during the Second World War. And in 2020, Vicki signed a three-book deal with Canelo for a saga series following three young women who sign up to the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force to join in the war effort.
A second series focussing on visual signallers in Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as The Wrens, soon followed, with the first book, A New Start For The Wrens, named the Best Romantic Saga Novel at the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Awards for 2023.
The first title in her new Bomber Command Girls series is due to be published on November 2. “Every time, I think ‘can I do another World War Two book?’ but there are so many occupations that women did during the war,” says Vicki, who lives in Newport.
In the opening scenes of the 1946 movie, A Matter Of Life and Death, the pilot of a damaged Lancaster bomber is talking to a young radio operator, named June, as he prepares to jump out of the burning aircraft without a parachute.
The moving and dramatic sequence stuck in Vicki’s mind and gave her the idea to set her new series in Bomber Command.
But the plot required careful thought to ensure it would meet readers’ expectations of a happy ending while still being a realistic representation of the important – and dangerous – role, the men of Bomb Command played in serving the nation
“In the book, the heroine, Pearl, meets the hero, an Australian pilot, named Greg, while guiding him home to safety during an emergency,” explains Vicki. “The challenge with writing about Bomber Command is that there was a high casualty rate. I wanted to write a heart-warming story but I also wanted to balance that with doing justice to what it must have been like to be in Bomber Command.”
The book follows Pearl who has given up on her dreams of being a journalist after being denied a promotion because of her gender. She joins the WAAF as a radio telephone operator for Bomber Command at RAF Fenthorpe and befriends Met WAAF Jenny as well as Australian pilot Greg.
A series of thefts from pilots rekindles Pearl’s investigative fire and she is soon caught up in the mystery. “Pearl grew up in Shrewsbury and joined the WAAF to be closer to her sister, Thea, an instrument repairer at another Lincolnshire bomber station. At one point, all of the evidence is pointing to her sister being behind the thefts so it’s about how she reacts to that and what she does about it. Her friend Greg is a bit of a daredevil and likes taking dares when he’s not on duty. It’s how he copes with the dangers of what the airmen are doing. Pearl is a bit more cautious and doesn’t like to see the people she loves risking themselves and she thinks Greg is risking himself,” explains Vicki.
Future books in the four-part series will focus on Thea and Jenny’s stories.
While carrying out research for the novels, Vicki travelled to Lincolnshire, which often referred to as Bomber County because of the number of Bomber Command Squadrons based there during the Second World War.
“It was really interesting. I visited the International Bomber Command Centre and walked around Lincoln taking photos.”
Vicki says she looking forward to seeing how her fans react to the new series. “I’m always nervous but hopefully they will like the story and enjoy reading about the characters.”
The Girls of Bomber Command is published by Canelo on November 2.
