As they stood in a circle after hugging each other, it was Flors who spoke. ‘Our brave daughters, we love you.’

Letter to Readers

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing my book. I hope that I have been able to give you hours of enjoyment – and did not cost you too many tissues – as you read this final book in The Girls Who Went to War series.

I love to receive feedback from you, through the channels listed at the end of this letter, or, if you can, leave me a review on Amazon, Goodreads or Facebook and visit my website. Feedback and reviews are like hugging an author, as they help us to progress in our career, give us encouragement as we sit alone writing the next book, and are the biggest thank you in the world. And for me, they make me want to hug you back.

Researching my books takes me to many countries, which is a joy as I love to travel.

The Girls Who Went to War series took me to Poland and the South East of France.

In the UK I visited a working cotton mill in Uppermill and drove around Blackburn to find places that I wanted to feature – parks, churches and manor homes – including visiting Feniscowles, just outside Blackburn, where I found the perfect home for Mags’s family.

I also visited the wonderful Portpatrick in Scotland and found where I wanted Mags, Betsy and Susan’s retreat to be.

For Belgium and Singapore, I had to rely on the internet, although I would have loved to visit. But the internet is a great source of facts and inspiration – I always come across a story that inspires more books. For this series I was inspired by the story of Edith Cavell, a wonderful, brave soul who went to Belgium to nurse the injured and then helped them to escape. Sadly, Edith was executed by the Germans. May she and all brave souls rest in peace.

My research for The Brave Daughters also included reading Heroes Among Us by Jim Ryun and They Fought Alone by Maurice Buckmaster.

The Girls Who Went to War features four books, which follow the lives of three girls who met and formed a deep bond of friendship when they were sent by the Red Cross to Belgium in 1914. Each girl had volunteered to escape their lives at home and each has a story to tell.

The books are standalone reads so, if you missed the first three, don’t worry. You can still enjoy reading Flora’s story and learning about the beginning of the girls’ friendship – what happened when they were trapped behind enemy lines, and what Flora faced when she returned home – in the first of the series, The Forgotten Daughter.

The second book, The Abandoned Daughter, follows Ella’s story: how her search for her Polish roots left her stranded and heartbroken, and the courage she showed to fight back.