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NOVELS BY JUNE GADSBY |
WHEN TOMORROW COMES
Writing
a saga can raise many problems for the author. The storyline, for me, is the
easiest part of all and drops into my head like a letter in the mail.
When research
comes in to play there are lots of avenues to explore, especially when the
story covers a long period of time. It can also take place in more than one
area of the world. I like to write what I call ‘two-centre’ stories. They start
off in England and move to exotic locations, such as South Africa, Kenya, Sri
Lanka, Patagonia, Ecuador and Chile – all places I am lucky enough to have
visited. Writing about these places brings back joyful memories of the past
and, I feel, give the story some authenticity. I know the places at first hand,
know the sights, the sounds and the smells, even though my novels are usually
set in the past.
In the case of
“When Tomorrow Comes”, this was set mainly around a close-knit family in the
north-east of England – the small mining town where I was born. It follows the
characters’ lives through WWll, touching briefly on France, which is where I
now live. Many of my readers, along with my late literary agent, say that this
is my best book – possibly because it is about an ordinary family fighting
their own war. The heroine, Hildie, is also my own, personal favourite
character. There are, too, some
secondary characters that are inspired by real people in my life. There is, of
course, a lot of embroidery added to each one to make them more interesting.
To keep track of
all the characters, I went through a magazine and cut out any face that matched
my imaginary people. Believe me, it worked. I could now see the ‘cast’ on paper
as well as in my head.
The story behind
the writing of “When Tomorrow Comes” is interesting. Up until this point my
mother had never recognised me as a writer; didn’t like anything I wrote; hated
any reference to sex or the use of bad language, even when I explained to her
that this was how certain people behaved and spoke. One story I gave her to
read – a black comedy of sorts – thinking it would keep her amused while
visiting us in France [she got easily bored] was thrown aside to the remark: “I can’t read this. It’s filth!”
Undeterred, I
decided to write a story that she would enjoy. While doing the ironing one
Sunday, I heard Vera Lynn singing “There’ll be blue birds over the while cliffs
of Dover, tomorrow just you wait and
see…” I knew instantly that I had found the storyline that would [okay, might]
please my mother. I absolutely loved writing this story, but getting it
published was not so easy.
In the end, I
printed it out and had a friend bind it for me. I sent it to her and held my
breath, fully expecting the usual criticism. I’m delighted to say that she
loved it. In 2001 my books started to be published for real, and my mother
finally stopped telling people that I had a ‘nice little hobby’ and changed
this to “My daughter is an authoress.” We still didn’t have a much craved for
mother-daughter bond, but at least I had given her something to be proud of.
The
book did eventually get published in hardback, and now, more lately, in
paperback and e-book. My mother died in 2009 and the original, personalised
version of When Tomorrow Comes found its way back to me and has become one of
my ‘treasures’.
And here it is: 
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