Our Castle by the Sea is mostly set during the first year of the Second World War. While the story of Petra and her family is entirely fictional, the events happening around them – such as the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers and the passing of the Treachery Act in May 1940 – are very real indeed.

‘Enemy aliens’ (German, Austrian and Italian nationals living in Great Britain) were assessed and categorized at tribunals, and many thousands were interned. A significant percentage of these were refugees, but the situation was seen to be urgent and dangerous: the risk of foreign spies helping the enemy threatened Britain’s war effort. It was considered too complicated and time-consuming to separate those who were fleeing the Nazis from those who supported them, so they were all interned together.

Thousands of foreign nationals were deported. The SS Arandora Star was hit by torpedoes from a German U-boat on 2 July 1940. Over 800 people died, most of whom were male German and Italian internees being deported to Canada together with some German prisoners of war.

German U-boats were active in the Channel during the latter months of 1939, but not – as far as I know – in October 1940, and there was no attempted landing on the Kent coast at this time, so this is perhaps the point at which I have taken the greatest liberties with the truth for the purposes of Petra’s story.

The story is set on the coast of Kent, not far from Dover, but Dragon Bay and the village of Stonegate are fictional. Petra’s ‘Castle’ is inspired partly by both the North Foreland and South Foreland lighthouses, and Goodwin Sands sparked the idea of the dreaded Wyrm.

Following Germany’s invasion of France on 10 May 1940, British, Belgian and French forces were trapped along the north coast of France. Between 26 May and 4 June, over 300,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk. Hundreds of British fishing boats, lifeboats and pleasure craft assisted in the evacuation. The situation for the Allies had looked hopeless, and the successful rescue of so many men was described by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a ‘miracle’.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The writing of Our Castle by the Sea was a project supported by Arts Council England, so I would like to begin by thanking this wonderful institution for all the utterly brilliant work they do.

Thank you, the reader, for meeting me halfway with your extraordinary imagination, for enjoying my story, for becoming attached to my characters, and for getting in touch to tell me all about your favourite bits. Thank you to all the bookworms, book bloggers, teachers, librarians, reviewers and Twitterers out there for loving children’s literature and telling the world that it is important.