Vee Walker

Do you have a box of old family photos, letters etc stuck at the back of a cupboard? Ten years ago so did I. I then began to write up a tattered war diary scrapbook - and soon got hooked on the war-torn world of Tom and Evie, my unlikely grandparents. Thanks to my publishers Kashi House my novel was produced in time for the centenary commemorations of the Armistice.

Why read Major Tom's War? Well, it is easier to take in than many WWI histories but will still give you an idea of what it was like to live through such hardship. It is all about ordinary people, just like you and me, caught up in the Great War. Tom is a myopic and impoverished Indian Army Cavalry Officer, Evie a would-be suffragette and VAD nurse. Theirs is by no means a typical romance. My readers say my book feels real to them and I think that is because i have kept the fictional side of the story to an absolute minimum.

For example, the largely untold story of occupied France during WWI is experienced through the real-life character of Gaston, mayor of Bavay. I spent the Armistice Centenary in November 2018 in the town with some of his grandchildren: a moving, unforgettable experience.

You might also like to look at the archive website which accompanies the book at www.majortomswar.com from which you can access my blog which has lots of supplementary info. There is even a bonus chapter there to whet your appetite.

Home is on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. When I am not writing, I am exploring the history of the Highlands, cooking, gardening or travelling, usually by being persuaded to get on a large boat.

Future projects include the French translation of Major Tom's War under the title 'Grande Guerre, Petits Destins' and two more exciting novels in the same family fiction genre, firmly rooted in my own family's past.