Liz Trenow
The Secret Sister

When Liz Trenow, international bestselling author of Under a Wartime Sky and Searching for my Daughter learned the extraordinary story of her friend’s father’s wartime experiences she knew at once this should be the subject of her next novel. Liz will be talking about this gripping and heart-breaking story of love, courage and a sister’s sacrifice which shines a light on the forgotten heroes of World War Two.

Coggeshall Library, The Friends’ Meeting House, 29 Stoneham Street, Coggeshall, CO6 1UH
Tickets: £8 / £7 concessions
Box Office: Online or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948

About the book

A completely gripping and heart-breaking story of love, courage and a sister’s sacrifice which shines a light on the forgotten heroes of World War Two

In 1943 Ivor Singer was dreading the arrival of his call up letter. Like all eighteen year olds at that time he expected to be enlisted in one of the armed forces. But instead, he found himself uprooted from London’s East End to a mining community in Staffordshire. He might just as well have been flown to the moon.

So many men had gone to war that by 1943 a shortage of miners led to dwindling supplies of the coal vitally needed to make steel for planes, tanks and other armaments. When a plea for volunteers failed, Ernest Bevin, the Minister for Labour, devised a scheme for compulsory conscription into coal mining. Ivor was one of nearly fifty thousand so-called ‘forgotten conscripts’, chosen by ballot.

Ivor’s experience in the mine was traumatic, the memories still vivid well into his eighties. He was badly injured in a rock fall and carried the scars – seams of coal dust deep under the skin of his back – for the rest of his life.

The Bevin Boys, as they came to be known, enjoyed none of the kudos or perceived glamour of fighting for their country. Worst of all was the stigma of not being in uniform. They were not demobilised for a full two years after the end of the war, and never invited to take part in Remembrance Day events.

Fifty years later, in 2007, then Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that the ‘forgotten conscripts’ should receive long-overdue recognition, and Ivor finally received a Veteran’s Badge, fifty years late. Five years after that a memorial to the Bevin Boys was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

About the author
Liz Trenow is a former journalist who spent fifteen years working for regional and national newspapers and BBC radio and television news, before turning her hand to writing historical fiction.

The Secret Sister is her tenth novel. Previous titles have reached the USA Today and NY Times bestseller lists, and been nominated for national awards.

Liz lives in Colchester with her artist husband, and they have two grown-up daughters and three beautiful grandchildren. She can also be seen (and heard) singing with the Colchester Chamber Choir and Suffolk Villages Festival choir, Psalmody.

liztrenow.com

Twitter: @LizTrenow or at facebook.com/liztrenow/