Book Club Kit
L
Posy Lovell A CO NVER SATION WIT H
L
Although there are a few recurring characters from your first book, The Kew Gardens Girls, most of the novel focuses on two new characters—Daisy and Beth. What was your inspiration behind each of these courageous women’s stories? I wanted to give my characters personal conflict to mirror the war that was happening around them. But Beth actually started out as two characters! I wanted to write about a woman who wanted to be a doctor and a forbidden love affair. So I plotted the first draft with Beth focusing on her career and her twin brother—who was a doctor—falling in love with a man. I couldn’t quite get the story to work, though, and I went around and around in circles, until I was listening to the radio one day and heard a woman talking about her parents. They had met during the war and had suffered a great deal of difficulty throughout their romance because her father was Black and her mother was white. I was intrigued and began reading about Britain’s Black community during the war (a book called Under Fire by Stephen Bourne was especially helpful), and slowly Gus and Beth’s romance took shape. And Beth’s poor twin brother was ditched! How was the writing process similar and different from writing The Kew Gardens Girls? In some ways it was easier because I have written about World War II before, and I “knew” Kew much better this time. But it’s a more complicated story and, of course, I was writing this book during lockdown. I found everything was slower! Partly because I had the kids at home, and I was trying to supervise their homeschool, but also it was just harder to motivate myself. I couldn’t go to visit any museums—I couldn’t even go to Kew. I eventually got into my stride, but it was hard work at first.
© Harriet Buckingham
While this story is a work of fiction, the foundation is inspired by real-life events during World War II. What research did you perform in order to craft this story? A surprising amount of research! I read books about nursing during the Blitz and read lots of eyewitness accounts of the bombs that fell on London. All the detail I used, like the brick dust in the air, and the leaves being blown from trees, came from stories told by people who were there. I had to learn about the County Herb Committees and the women who ran them, and the Dig for Victory campaign. And as I already mentioned, I had to research Black Britain in wartime. I especially liked learning about the hospitals and the doctors and nurses during the Blitz. They were so astonishingly brave that I’m planning to write another story about them. You have stated that learning about plants was one of the biggest obstacles while writing The Kew Gardens Girls. Did that prove true for this novel as well? Did any of the new facts you learned surprise you? I was surprised by just how resilient and creative people were when it came to growing their own food. And how much guidance they were given, a lot of which is still useful. In fact, my son has recently become interested in gardening and he’s using a wartime calendar showing which vegetables to plant at certain times of the year to plan his veg plot! Are any of the characters based on real people? Yes. Louisa’s role is based on an amazing horticulturalist named Elizabeth Hess. She took on the job of coordinating the growing of herbs and medicinal plants across the country. It was an enormous effort and a huge achievement. Beth and Gus’s relationship shines a light on the prejudices that interracial couples and people of color faced during this time. What do you hope readers will take away from their relationship? Here in the UK, many people of color trace their roots back to the Windrush generation. They were the people who traveled from the Caribbean to Britain from the end of the war to the early ’70s. They came to fill shortages in the labor market after the war, and they weren’t always treated well. But in my research I discovered a lot of things that I’d not known before about Black Britain and how much people of color contributed to the UK before Windrush. I’d like to think Gus’s story would spark an interest in that history among my readers. And as for Beth and Gus’s romance, I think it’s a very mature love that they have, even though Beth is young. They’re both fully aware of how difficult their relationship could be, and they go into it with their eyes open.
I think having courage in your convictions and following your heart, even when it’s not easy, is a good lesson to learn from Beth and Gus. What was your favorite scene in the novel, and why? Do you have a favorite character? So many, actually! I like all the sad scenes—I’m not sure what that says about me! I like when Daisy gets her awful telegram, and when she’s on the bridge. And I like when Beth comes out of the hospital after a night shift and stares in disbelief at the devastation caused by the bombings. That was also based on real accounts by nurses emerging from St Thomas’s hospital on the banks of the Thames. Daisy’s my favorite character. I love Beth’s strength and determination, but I think I’d find her a bit intimidating in real life! Daisy is more vulnerable and quietly stoic. Daisy encounters such incredible hardships and grows so much throughout the novel. In your research, do you think that her story is one that was more common among women during World War II? What does Daisy’s story mean to you? Daisy’s hardships were of course terribly common during World War II. But I found very little information about the specific situation she endured back then. I can’t imagine, though, that it was rarer then than it is now. I think that perhaps tragedies—like the one that almost happens to Daisy—happened because there was so little help available. I felt so much for Daisy that sometimes I actually cried when I wrote her scenes! It really made me appreciate the advances that we have made in today’s age. Did you always know how the story would end? Sort of. I had a resolution in mind for all my characters, but Beth’s ending genuinely took me by surprise! I hope readers enjoy the depiction of friendship in the story and perhaps recognize their own experiences in those of Louisa, Beth, and Daisy. What’s next for you? I’m planning another World War II novel inspired by the research I did for Beth’s story, about nurses. It’s based on a real-life nurse who kept a notebook that all her patients—who were wounded soldiers—wrote messages and poems and stories in. And I’m also writing a story about a woman who makes friends with Frances Hodgson Burnett (who wrote The Secret Garden) and finds her life changed forever. So more plant research needed there!
Discussion Questions 1.
What do you think Beth, Daisy, and Louisa provided for one another during their time of need? Do you have a friend that reminds you of one of these strong women?
2.
What do you admire most about Beth and Gus’s relationship? Do you feel they would face similar or different obstacles in today’s age?
3.
If Daisy had experienced her trauma today, how do you think her symptoms would have been treated? Do you think present-day treatment of her trauma better or worse than how it was handled during the novel?
4.
Do you think Ivy did the right thing by Daisy in her time of need? Would you have done things differently if Daisy was your daughter?
5.
What was your favorite scene in the novel, and why?
6.
Discuss what you believe each character learned by the end of the novel and how each of them came to these life lessons. Do any resonate with you? If so, how?
7.
How do you think World War II changed Daisy, Beth, and Louisa? Do you think it was for better or worse?
8.
Do you think Beth made the right decision at the end of the novel with regard to her relationship with Gus and her education? Why, or why not?
9.
What were your thoughts about the ending?
10.
Where do you see Beth’s, Daisy’s, and Louisa’s lives leading beyond the final pages?