How do they rebuild a marriage that wasn’t real in the first place? If you love epic wartime romance with a dash of intrigue, you’ll love this second-chance, marriage-of-convenience love story.

London, 1945: Two years ago, Jonty Ables married Katie Baines to save her and her unborn baby from shame. But now the war is all but over, the baby is gone and they must work out where their shaky marriage fits into lives irrevocably changed by war.

Clinging to the memory of a time before all happiness evaporated, Katie works hard during the day as a seamstress. At night she comes home to a tiny terrace on a bomb-scarred street, crammed with her extended family and their problems. Years of estrangement sit between her and her recently demobilised husband. She’s not even sure she loves him. So why is she so crushed that he calls out another woman’s name in his sleep?

Jonty is determined to honor the vows he made no matter how many ghosts plague him. But with such separate lives, his wife is more of a stranger than ever. When Katie’s friend goes missing, Jonty seizes the opportunity to help her find him just so they have reason to talk. But the war casts long shadows over their efforts, and fighting for their future might just be the hardest battle of them all.

Book 3 of the On Victory's Wings series, These Long Shadows, is easily read as a standalone novel.

Thanks for having me as a guest at your writing spot!

What is something interesting readers would enjoy learning about you?

I’m an Australian indie author. I live in Canberra, which is the capital of Australia. Most Australians would call it boring, but I think that’s unfair. It is surrounded by nature, including amazing birdlife. I’m lucky enough to have a big window near my writing desk that is often home to several Crimson Rosellas.

Why do you write so much about WWII?

I’m endlessly fascinated by 20th Century history, especially WWII. I don't think I could ever run out of interesting stories from this period! It was such a tumultuous time for the entire world. Because I write romance, I look for romantic possibilities wherever I can and a wartime setting raises the stakes for any love story. 

What research was required for your book?

My latest book These Long Shadows is set in England between the surrenders of Germany and Japan, so I had to do a lot of reading about life at the end of the war. The disruption of war had a long, long tail to it. The process of relocating and standing down troops in Europe alone took years, and many British men who had been prisoners in the Far East (the Pacific) didn’t get back to England until 1947.

Then, to have all these men return home when there was a housing shortage (due to wartime bombing) and heavy food rationing caused enormous social upheaval. I loved that historical research, but actually it is all the backdrop to a very domestic, very personal story of two characters who must face the consequences of their wartime decisions and work out how to love each other.

What was the inspiration behind your story?

These Long Shadows is the final in a series of three called On Victory’s Wings. They are all standalone stories, but feature overlapping characters. So I met my protagonists, Katie and Jonty, while writing Heart in the Clouds. Honestly, Katie was just a plot device. It’s not nice to say this but she was sort of like a disposable character in that bigger story. But once I tied up the plot involving her with a marriage to Jonty, I just knew there was more to their story. I also knew in my bones I wanted to write about the pain and grief of a child passing away (which is something that has happened to me). So the story went from there. 

What was your favourite scene to write?

During the war, airmen were issued with silk maps of Europe, designed to help them plot an escape route if they were shot down. These maps were sold off cheaply after the war. Because they were silk, women snapped them up to make underwear out of them! My favourite scene to write was the one where Jonty sees Katie in the slip she’s made out of these maps. It was one of the earliest scenes I conceived and I thought I might have to cut it at one point. But I am so glad it stayed in!

What encouragement do you hope readers will take away from your story?

When I got to the end of writing the series, I realised that grief was a recurring theme in all the On Victory’s Wings books. This wasn’t intentional, but it was definitely God’s hand at work. It turned out that the victory I was writing about had nothing to do with WWII. So ultimately, I want people to know that Jesus makes it possible for us to grieve with hope in the face of catastrophic tragedy. 

Also, I want readers to swoon over a hero who is truly good. Jonty isn’t handsome or wealthy, but he loves his wife with unrelenting kindness and patience.