Welcome to Novel PASTimes! We are pleased you stopped by today.
Thank you for having me! It’s a pleasure to be here.
Tell us something about where you live?
It’s a delicate situation. My family’s home in Lincolnshire, England, was requisitioned by the Air Ministry to function as a mapmaking facility. I had to clear out all our family’s possessions and watch while the Air Ministry converted the whole thing into offices. (They were absolute thugs when it came to the soft furnishings!) They even changed the name of the place from ‘Broughton Hall’ to ‘Bartondale’. I loved my job working in the map room at RAF Bottesford, but I wanted to keep an eye on my family’s home. So I ask for a transfer to the library at Bartondale. Now I work in what used to be my home, and live in what used to be our caretaker’s cottage with my companion Sarah and a child evacuee called Olive.
Do you have an occupation?
I have to be careful what I say about it. Official secrets, you understand. But I can tell you that I work in the library, managing all the documents required to make the maps. I like putting everything in order.
What do you like about your work?
There is a new American, Jack Marsden, who has started working with us. The girls and I call him O.A.F … Our American Friend. It was my job to show him around on his first day. He’s quiet, almost tongue-tied, with me even though he seems chatty with everyone else. He looks in pain every time he has to speak to me!
Who are the special people in your life?
The special people in my life are my parents and my two brothers, Peter and Teddy. Peter is my twin. Teddy is the baby of the family and has just joined Bomber Command as a navigator. I don’t think he is enjoying it very much. Then there’s my dear friend Maggie. We met when we worked together at RAF Bottesford and she’s been like a sister to me ever since. We tell each other all our secrets. Well, almost all of them. There are some things that I won’t tell anyone. Ever.
What are you most afraid of?
It feels odd confessing this to you but I am most afraid of people discovering the very foolish thing I did at university. I am ashamed of who I was then, and for people to know about … I’m sorry I don’t want to say anything more about it. It’s too upsetting.
What do you expect the future will hold for you?
It’s war, so there’s no telling what will happen! But if I’m honest, I’d love to get to know Jack a little more. He might be quiet but I sense he has a lot going on under the surface.
What have you learned about yourself in the course of your story?
I’ve learnt that I truly am a new creation in Christ and that I can do all things in His strength. And I’ve learnt to forgive. Trust me when I tell you that both are very hard lessons to learn.
The Mapmaker’s Secret by Jennifer Mistmorgan is a historical romance set during WWII. It is available in both paperback and ebook.
Australian author Jennifer Mistmorgan sometimes feels like she was born in the wrong era. So she writes romantic historical fiction set in the 1940s, against the backdrop of WWII and its aftermath. She infuses her sweet romances with wartime drama and a dash of intrigue. She lives in Canberra with her family and a wonky-eared West Highland terrier.
Novel PASTimes 