Lincs Pride JULY 228.qxp 10/06/2021 09:40 Page 46
MARGARET DICKINSON
UNCOVERING THE
CODE
Skegness author Margaret Dickinson has just published book 29 and is already working on her 30th novel in her series of sagas. Secrets of Bletchley Park is set within the wartime codebreaking station, where there are more secrets than just the station’s work... IN THE STUDY at her Skegness home, Margaret Dickinson is working on an important book. It’ll be her 30th. And with her most recently published novel, Secrets at Bletchley Park, now in bookshops it’s fitting that the author has acknowledged the life and work of the codebreakers based at Bletchley Park, because those same machine and cipher devices led not only to a shortening of the war but also the development of the computer, indeed, to the creation of computers just like the one responsible for Margaret’s prolific output of around 70,000 word a year. The hallmarks of Margaret’s work are wellresearched historical contexts, and strong female characters, making her a standout author in the saga genre. “From the beginning, my agent was looking for three things from my books. First of all, they must have a strong woman as the central character, second of all it must be firmly set in a certain recognisable location, and finally it must have a very satisfactory ending.”
“The reader must turn the last page and say ‘yes, that’s a good ending to that story.’ When ending a book in a trilogy it becomes a little trickier, because you must give a hint that there is going to be more to follow, but you’ve got to end that book on a satisfactory note.” “I was born in Gainsborough, but soon moved to Chapel St Leonards near Skegness when I was seven,” says Margaret. “I was educated at Skegness Grammar School and Lincoln Technical College, worked in Skegness in various office-based jobs, and I’ve been there ever since. That’s why it was a very natural decision to make Lincolnshire the basis for my books.” “I always wanted to be a writer when I was younger from the age of around 14 with the hope of one day being published. I managed to get my first book published in 1968 and it just went from there.” “My first nine hardback books published by London publisher Robert Hale didn’t have many connections to Lincolnshire. It wasn’t until the early 90s when I started writing the
Words: Rob Davis.
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