Hi everyone - posting on behalf of my mum

Hi everyone,
I found this forum by chance as I am researching for my mother's book, And A Nightingale Sang, which is based on true events during WW2 in rural Sussex. Mum had 7 sisters and 2 brothers and lived on a farm called Snapelands. One of her sisters, June, was a landgirl.
In the book she also mentions various people such as Lord Cowdray and Sir Alec Guinness, as well as my Great Grandfather, Sir Richard Gregory, previous Editor of Nature and Professor of Astronomy (also friend of HG Wells). Some parts are funny and some are sad - I may be biased but it's a beautiful book. I have learned a lot about the war since researching it and all the names and terms!
Sadly my mum has been in care home for 5 years and is in the late stages of vascular dementia, she is bedbound, no longer talks, communicates or recognises me. I have taken it upon myself to collect, organize and type up her book of which was scattered all over the house as she became more disorganised the more the dementia took old. I feel that it's the only thing I can do for mum and I know that she wanted to publish this book and worked hard on it. I have already typed 17,500 words. I have posted a link here (if I am allowed!)

And A Nightingale Sang



If anybody knows of anyone that maybe knew of the family during WW2 (Midhurst, Chichester, Petworth areas) it would be lovely to hear from them. It's maybe a longshot I know but still!

Claire

 

Claire,
Hello and welcome to the forum.
Best of luck with the book and hope it is a success.
Several of our members have written books and I have purchased three, which are all wonderful reading.
Regards
Tom

 

Welcome
Hope you can sort out your mum's writing and filing system, please keep us updated on your progress and publication .

Mike

 

Hi Claire, what a great thing you are doing typing up all your Mum's notes. Will take a look at your link later. Have you been reading aloud her own words back to her? I fortunately only had the one occasion my own father didn't recognise me in his final year and I know how deep that cut and can't comprehend how you must feel after five years. Keep your chin up lady.

Have you applied for her service record? If not, it might be worth a try applying here Get a copy of military service records - GOV.UK . They couldn't find my aunt's record, but you might be luckier than I.

All the best - Maria

 

Welcome to the forum, Claire. What a really good thing to do. I wish you all the very best with it, and like Oldman I'd be interested to hear about your progress as you go along. A Sussex man, I look forward to reading your mum's book when it's published.

Cheers, Pat.

 

Thank you Pat for your nice message

 

Hi Tom!

 

I didn't realise I had all these messages how lovely! Thank you that is a great help regarding the link will certainly check it out. I took my baby daughter to see her but there was no response. x

 

Mike it's giving me a headache lol - one publisher has asked me for a detailed synopsis of each chapter which is taking me ages!

 

Hello everybody.
Finally got around to self publishing the book in June of this year. I did approach traditional publishers but there was not much interest. I'm not sure I am allowed to post a link but the book can be found on Amazon under Marianne Sells. Would love to hear people's thoughts whom may have read the book.

 

Thank you

 

For some reason' this is the first time that I have seen this thread ? A lovely post !! Many thanks to dbf for posting the link. I will now order one of these books.
I already have two books about WW2 Land-Army Girls which are very good ! My Auntie was a Land Girl from 1942 onwards, after the war their house (When she was married) was built on the same land that she had worked-on during the war. '' I wonder how many times I've dug this piece of soil '' I remember her saying that ! This was along with Italian POW's.

 

Thank you! Your aunties life sounds really interesting!