Christine Gallgher Kearney’s family helps inspire her debut novel

By Max Bowen

Christine Gallagher Kearney’s recently-released novel “What We Leave Behind” (She Writes Press) is a WWII-era narrative of love, loss, and one woman’s search for identity after being separated from her homeland and husband. Inspired in part by the true story of Christine's maternal grandmother who was brought to the US as a war bride after WWII, the book showcases the failings of the American dream in contrast with the limitless power of hope and determination.


I read that the book is inspired in part by your maternal grandmother, who was brought to the US as a war bride after WWII. How did this influence the story and what portion would you say is fiction?
I had to let go of the real Ursula to write the fictional Ursula. In fact, as the character evolved on the page, it was harder and harder to adhere to every aspect of her life. That said, many of the major events in the novel are based on Ursula's actual experiences such as her arrival in America, getting polio and recovering, making a best friend in the hospital, losing her husband and falling in love again, and giving up her child for adoption.

What was a “war bride?”
During World War II and immediately after, American soldiers who had fallen in love with women in countries like the U.K., Australia, France and even Germany, invited their fiancées to come back to the U.S. with them. In some cases, soldiers married their fiancées before they returned to the U.S. For soldiers bringing home brides from Allied countries, there were few barriers. For German women like Ursula, who were considered ex-enemy war brides, there were special matrimonial laws that had to be followed.

How similar is your main character Ursula to your maternal grandmother?
Ursula as a character is very similar to Ursula my maternal grandmother. After my mother read the book, she said I had “really captured Ursula’s essence.” Although I had only met her a few times when I was a child, my memories of those meetings are strong. I also had letters that my mom had saved. These became very useful to capture Ursula's voice, her stubbornness and her resilience. The one thing that did not make the book was Ursula’s love of American football. But her love of crocheting and knitting are literally woven through the entire story.

Did you need to do a lot of research, either on the time period or your grandmother’s life? What did you learn?
In this type of fiction, writing and research go hand-in-hand. While I drafted, I stopped frequently to make notes about specific topics I needed to research. There are about 15-20 books I relied on regularly throughout the writing process. For the second part of the novel, I also interviewed polio survivors about their illnesses and their recovery process.

I really liked the cover. What went into planning it?
Thank you, I really love it too! Julie Metz on She Writes Press team designed the cover. Early in the design process, I received multiple cover options and this one struck me as the strongest. If you flip to the back of the book, you’ll even find a photo of Ursula that resembles the photo of the woman on the cover – a lovely coincidence!

Christine Gallagher Kearney

What was the American Dream in 1947? What would you say are its strengths and weaknesses and how are these explored in the book?
Ursula thought the American Dream was a chance to start over, to find security and economic opportunity. She creates a fantasy about what it would be like to marry an American man and move to the States with him, but when she sets foot in Minnesota, she encounters a hostile mother-in-law and a modest standard of living. In the novel, her mother warns about the possibility of “it being different” than what she imagines, but Ursula cannot see another way forward for her life and takes a huge chance on this “dream.”

I saw that this is your debut novel, but you have an extensive writing background. What new lessons did this book have for you?
Working on a project like a novel is a long-term challenge. Staying motivated to see the project through was one of the biggest obstacles, especially as I faced tough developmental edits, and looming deadlines from my publisher.

Is another book in your future?
I’m excited to be about halfway finished with book number two already. It's a completely different topic—a story about a dead whale, grief and climate change.

What elements of the story tie into life today?
I wrote much of "What We Leave Behind" during the COVID-19 pandemic. To write about another pandemic from many years ago while going through Covid created some eerie parallels. For example, in the book while Ursula is in the hospital she reads about how the polio vaccine is being tested on monkeys. Compared with modern science, it took years for the polio vaccine to be developed and safely administered.

Mark Ellis blends art theft with murder in “Dead In The Water”

 In his fifth book in the Frank Merlin series, Mark Ellis takes us back to WWII to the scene of a grisly murder. But at the same time, priceless pieces of art go mysterioiusly missing. Merlin must uncover the link between the two in this new book, set to be released on April 25 through Hachette.

In this interview, Ellis talks about the setting and how they influenced the books, how his own life proved an inspiration and who Frank Merlin is and how he’s changed over the years.

Why place the book in WW2?

I was born in 1953. World War Two loomed large in my life from an early age. My father was in the Navy during the war and on service in West Africa he contracted a wasting lung disease. It took a while but he eventually died from this. My mother worked for a railway company in South Wales during the war, and made frequent trips up to London when it was being bombed. She told me many fascinating stories about these visits and life in general on the Home Front. It seemed only natural when I decided to start writing historical crime fiction, that World War Two be one option for a period setting. When I then dug deeper into that historical period, I discovered that Britain suffered a huge increase in crime during the war years. This helped make up my mind for me.


What kind of research did you need for this book?

With each book I spend at least three months researching the particular period. In the case of my latest book, “Dead In The Water,” that period was the summer of 1942. For my earlier books I spent a lot of time in libraries, but with the huge advances in the internet, I can now access much of the information I need there. I have also built up my own little World War Two library which is very helpful. History books are a major source of information obviously but I also use biographies, diaries and novels written during the war. Period films can also be useful.


How does the setting influence what happens in the book?

All my books have fictional plots set against specific historical facts which influence the storylines. Much of the plot in “Dead In The Water” revolves around the American military who had been arriving in Britain in their thousands since the beginning of 1942. My first book features murders at the American Embassy, presided over in 1940 by Joseph Kennedy. The London Blitz provides a vivid background to my second book. The background of my third book is espionage among De Gaulle’s Free French in London, and that of my fourth, the wartime British film industry.



Who is Frank Merlin and how did you create the character?

It was always my aim to have a detective hero in a senior position at Scotland Yard, so therefore a man likely to be in early middle age. Originally the hero was a true London Cockney with a wholly English background. However, while on holiday in Spain, I had the idea of making him half-Spanish. He is still to all intents and purposes, a Londoner but has a slightly more exotic background. His back-story is that his father, Javier Merino, was a Spanish seaman, who on a visit to London met and fell in love with Agnes, the daughter of a London ships chandler. Javier settled down with Agnes in London and in due course took over the chandlery from her father. The couple had 3 children, Frank Merlin, originally named Francisco Merino, being the first born.

 

Mark Ellis

How has Merlin changed over the course of the series?

He has remained basically the same though there have been developments in his life which have made him personally happier. I won’t go into detail as that would entail spoilers.


In this book, DCI Merlin discovers a mangled body found just as priceless art goes missing. Without giving away spoilers, how do these two stories intertwine?

Terrible stories of Nazi looting of art from Jewish families in ‘30s and ‘40s Europe still feature in the news to this day. In “Dead In The Water,” one important plot line concerns extremely valuable pieces of looted art which somehow end up in 1942 London. I shall say no more than that various people want to get their hands on it and violence ensues.


Did you have to carefully outline this book?

I do not plan out my books in advance. During my research, I often get plot ideas which I note down. Then I start writing and see where those plot lines take me. Usually, I’m about three quarters of the way through a book before I know who did what.


This is the 5th book in the series. Did you always intend this to become a series, and if not, what happened that it became one?

Yes, I always intended there to be a Frank Merlin series, which is why I set the first one very early in the war. (Merlin 1 is set in January 1940.) As I continued the series, I adopted the habit of setting each book 6 to 9 months after its predecessor. My aim has always been to take Merlin through to the end of the war, so this would imply at least 4 more books if I can manage that.


Where do the ideas for the different stories come from?

Many of my story ideas come from research, as mentioned above. If not they likely come from something I’ve read or seen in the past. The inspiration for my 4th book, “A Death In Mayfair,” came from a book I read a long time ago about the British film industry during the war. This was a surprisingly active production period and there were numerous film studios in and around London during the period. I remembered this when I started researching the book and it gave me the idea of creating a fictional film studio where murder could be done.


There are five books in the Frank Merlin series, and I am working on the 6th. The five books are:

1. The Embassy Murders (previously Princes Gate).

2. In The Shadows of the Blitz (previously Stalin’s Gold).

3. The French Spy (previously Merlin At War).

4. A Death In Mayfair

5. Dead In The Water (4/25 publication date in USA)

The story of WW II Pilot Richard Eager covers time in and out of the cockpit

The life story of U.S. Air Force veteran Richard Earnest Evans is certainly filled with amazing tales—such as how he became the B-17 "Flying Fortress" pilot for Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, Commander of the British 8th Army.

But this is just one of several stories compiled and self-published by his daughter, Barbara Kinnear as “Richard Eager: A Pilot’s Story from Tennessee Eagle Scouts to General Montgomery’s “Flying Fortress.” Better known as Richard Eager, Evans began working on this book after his service, but passed away before the book was completed.

In this episode, Kinnear talks about her father’s time with the Air Force and all the things she learned through his stories. The book also looks at Richard’s time growing up and we talk about life back then.

Kinnear talks about the fire that claimed their home and—she thought at the time—the entire collection her father had worked on, only to make a welcome discovery later. She shares the experience of growing up in the armed forces and the perspective on her father’s service through a child’s eyes.

Psychiatrist Dr. Jess Wright takes on fiction writing in debut novel, and Pearl Cutten returns with some upbeat new music

Kicking off this episode, Dr. Jess Wright makes the move from renowned psychiatrist to novelist with his new book, “A Stream to Follow.” This book explores and heart and mind of Bruce Duncan, a WWII battlefield surgeon adjusting to life after the conflict's end. But for Bruce, the battle is far from over. Haunted by the soldiers he tried to save, a own near-death experiences, and lost love, Bruce has far to go.

Dr. Wright and I talk about the creation of Duncan and how his own relatives who served in WWII helped shape the story. We talk about mental health in the 1940s and how difficult it was for anyone—especially men—to talk about it. Dr. Wright also looks at his years of writing medical books and the challenges he faced when it came to penning a fiction book.

Our second interview welcomes back Pearl Cutten, who's been on the show before. She's got two new singles to share— “Change” and “Far Away.” Both are upbeat, catchy tunes, which is something we could use right now. Pearl talks about the stories behind both songs, especially “Change” and how it's focused on not being afraid to tear down what you have for something new.

These two singles also tie into Pearl's background and we look at those elements and why it was so important for her to include them.

After these interviews, enjoy the two songs, which will both be on Pearl's upcoming album, “Fragments of My Soul.” 

Author Sarah C. Patten brings us into the world of WWII spies in debut novel

In this episode, writer Sarah C. Patten take readers into a world of love and espionage with her debut novel, “The Measure of Gold,” available on March 2.

The year is 1940. Following the death of her father Penelope receives a letter from her longtime friend Naomi, urging her to join her in Paris. There, she falls into the esoteric world of alchemy and espionage, and spies on the clients of a powerful French brothel.

Sarah and I talk about the lengthy research that went into this book, as well as the different turns it took in the worldbuilding process. We look at her background both as a writing teacher and short story writer and how both helped prepare her for this new milestone in her career.