Rhys Celebrates Pub Day for THE VICTORY GARDEN

RHYS BOWEN: Today is it! Official launch day of my new stand-alone historical novel, THE VICTORY GARDEN.

I've written two novels set in World War II but this one goes further back in time to the first great war. My inspirations for it were two-fold. The first was when I came across a book on herbal remedies and recipes at a used book store. It was a serious tome with everything from heart tonics to skin creams and a history of pretty much every herb. Some of the recipes went back to the sixteen hundreds. So I found myself thinking 'what if someone moved into an old house and found it was surrounded by a herb garden? And what if the wise woman, the herb wife, had always lived in that house and my character finds she has to take over the role?

So I toyed with this idea for a while, letting it simmer, until we were having all the ceremonies for the centennial of the end of World War 1. I was struck by how senseless this whole conflict had been: a war that began over the assassination of an obscure archduke in the Balkans and decimated Europe for four long years, achieving nothing really. More men were killed in this war than in any other conflict. A whole generation of young men did not come home to Britain (nor to Australia, New Zealand or Germany for that matter). It was a war directed by cavalry generals, sending men 'over the top' against Twentieth Century weapons. It was fought in trenches with mud so deep that people drowned in it. Those men who came home were broken in body and mind.

So I found myself wondering what happened when the men did not come home. Who became the blacksmith, or the pub owner? Who worked in the fields? And I realized that women were called to do so many things they had not thought possible.I looked into the formation of the Women's Land Army. The women came from all walks of life. They were all grieving the loss of a husband, son, sweetheart. They were given a uniform that included bloomers, a battle jacket and big boots. They discarded their corsets, cut their hair and never looked back. They also worked in factories, ran businesses and did the jobs the men used to do. It was wonderfully empowering for them, and really contributed more than anything into getting the vote and male respect.

So that became my story: a young woman meeting the love of her life, defying her parents, joining the land army and then, after terrible tragedy, finding herself in the house surrounded by the healing garden. Through healing others she starts to heal herself. It is set in the Devonshire countryside (near where my father's family came from) and is all about the strong bond between women.

Of course, being me, I couldn't write a book without a mystery in it. Not possible. So my heroine finds the old book of herbal remedies along with a diary of a woman who lived there long ago. She ends up wrongly accused of murder and presumably hanged. Emily's life seems strangely to mirror hers, including the last episodes. Will she be able to prove her innocence or face the same fate?

Here is a small snippet to whet your appetite:

She broke off, as there was a knock at the front door. She opened it, expecting a visit from Alice, or maybe Simpson with more coal, and recoiled as a strange man stood in front of her. His jacket was tied together with string. He wore an old, shapeless hat over shaggy hair, and his face was half-hidden by an untrimmed beard. Emily recoiled at the smell of him.
“Yes? Can I help you?” she asked, while the thought crossed her mind that she was far from any assistance. They would never hear her in the houses across the lane if she shouted for help.
“I’ve got a sore thumb.” The man held it out to her. Emily looked. It was more than a sore thumb. It had a great, yellow blister on it, and the skin around it was angry, swollen and red.
“That looks awful. You should see a doctor,” she said.
He frowned. “My sort don’t deal with doctors.” He paused. “That requires money. Besides, you’re her, aren’t you?”
“Her?”
“The wise woman. The herb wife. It says so on the gatepost.”

I hope you enjoy the book. It's out in audio at the same time. And I'll give away a signed hardcover to my favorite comment today.