A gripping historical novel with a dual timeline linking World War II and the Cold War and one woman’s search for the traitor who betrayed her family. Perfect for fans of The Rose Code.
The War Photographers
by SL Beaumont
Genre: Historical Fiction
She will risk everything to expose the truth
1943 – Bletchley Park, England
Mae Webster, immersed in the clandestine world of codebreaking at Bletchley Park, is recruited to help unveil a spy who’s on the brink of exposing Britain's most guarded secret: the cracking of the Enigma code. As war rages around her, Mae's life takes an unexpected turn when she falls in love with the enigmatic New Zealand war photographer Jack Knight. Their relationship develops at pace, but tragedy strikes when one of Jack's photographs risks unmasking an elusive double agent.
1989 – Berlin, Germany
Rachel Talbot, a globetrotting
photojournalist, ventures into the heart of a fractured Berlin in search of the
Stasi officer whom her beloved grandmother Mae blames for betraying their
family. Rachel finds herself entangled in the East German uprising and is
irresistibly drawn to a charismatic activist. As the Cold War threatens to boil
over, Rachel races to expose a traitor before it’s too late.
Perfect for fans of The Rose Code.
GUEST POST
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters? The War Photographers is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel. It’s set in 1943 during World War II and 1989 in Cold War Europe. The character of Mae is drawn from the smart young debutants from aristocratic families who were sent to Bletchley Park, Britain’s top-secret codebreaking facility, early in the war for their language skills and supposed discretion. Like many of her class, Mae was fluent in French, Italian and German. But her world changes when she meets New Zealand war photographer Jack Knight. Jack, a cadet reporter with the Otago Daily Times, enlisted as a regular soldier when war was declared. When the NZ contingent’s war photographer was injured, Jack was reassigned and eventually worked for the British. Mae’s granddaughter, Rachel, is a young woman operating in the male-dominated world of the press in the 1980s. Photojournalists, in particular, were a macho breed, but talented women such as Maria Fleet, Jane Evans, and New Zealander Margaret Moth helped to shatter the glass ceiling. Rachel’s traits of determination, curiosity and a desire to be where history was being made were inspired by these women. There are numerous stories of escape attempts, some successful, others not, during the years that the Wall divided Berlin, and many sad stories of families separated. The bravery of the leaders of the East German protest movement cannot be underestimated. In a society where the Stasi spied on its own citizens and strictly controlled all aspects of life, the risks associated with defying the Party were huge. The character of Leo is my attempt to represent these courageous individuals
Key Locations in the Book The War Photographers is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel. It’s set in 1943 during World War II and 1989 in Cold War Europe. Although the story unfolds in New Zealand, England and Europe, there are two key locations: Bletchley Park, the topsecret codebreaking facility situated halfway between Oxford and Cambridge in the British countryside, and Berlin, a city divided by the infamous Berlin Wall. Bletchley Park The clandestine work carried out at Bletchley Park and the cracking of the German Enigma code was somehow kept secret for many years. In fact, the knowledge of the achievements of the individuals who worked at the Park was almost lost to time as veterans took their signing of the Official Secrets Act seriously, many taking the secret to their graves. The establishment of the Bletchley Park Trust has ensured that this historic site and the knowledge of what was achieved there was saved for future generations. The character of Mae in The War Photographers works as a translator at Bletchley and is recruited to help uncover a spy who could expose the top-secret work being carried out there. The Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie Almost thirty-five years after it fell, little remains of the Berlin Wall. A few sections have been turned into a giant artist’s canvas, and a double-brick line weaves through a unified Berlin marking where it once stood. Checkpoint Charlie was the designated crossing point for foreigners in the US section of West Berlin. It was named from the phonetic alphabet, after Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo. All that remains today of Checkpoint Charlie is a replica sandbagged hut, where the US military controlled the crossing into the GDR. The Press Point, situated in a red-bricked building next to Checkpoint Charlie and now home to the excellent Check Point Charlie Museum, was an office used by Western media in Cold War Berlin, so it is here that Rachel Talbot, Mae’s granddaughter, a photojournalist in the foreign press, is based during her visits to Berlin
What inspired you to write this book? The War Photographers is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel. It’s set in 1943 during World War II and 1989 in Cold War Europe. I’ve long been fascinated by what was achieved at Bletchley Park, Britain’s topsecret codebreaking facility, during World War II, so when I read an article a few years ago about a woman in Wellington, New Zealand, who had worked there during the war, my interest was piqued. She had moved to New Zealand after the war, had her family, and because she’d signed the Official Secrets Act, she, like most others who had worked there, had never spoken of her war work. In fact, many never told family or friends of their achievements. We now know that the work carried out there under Alan Turing, Tommy Flowers, and others not only cut the war by an estimated two years but also led to the invention of the modern-day computer. As a crime and mystery writer, the secrecy surrounding events at Bletchley during the war seemed like fertile ground for spies and intrigue, and indeed, double agents such as Kim Philby and John Cairncross worked at Bletchley for a time. The idea of a crime committed during the war but not solved until years later intrigued me, and so Mae and Rachel’s stories were born.
EXCERPT
Prologue
Paris, France
November 23, 1944
Jack Knight had
witnessed some horrific sights in four years as a war photographer, but nothing
prepared him for the surreal scene he was about to encounter. After a day of
capturing images of a newly liberated Paris, Jack was strolling back to his
room at the Hotel Scribe when the hackles rose on the back of his neck.
Following his instincts, he deviated from his path and turned down a side
street. As always, his trusty Leica rested against his chest, secured by a worn
leather strap wound across his body. A significant proportion of Jack's war had
been viewed through this camera lens, and several of his award-winning images
had featured in newspapers worldwide.
Jack found the source of his unease when he
rounded the corner into a cobbled square overlooked by apartment buildings
still displaying the vestiges of war; pockmarked, chipped brickwork, cracked
windows and flaking paintwork. In the square’s centre, a fountain stood empty,
blackened and dirty from years of neglect. On the far side, chairs and small
tables were clustered beneath a faded red awning, where an aproned waiter was
serving small glasses of pastis to his handful of customers. The bodies of two
men swung from a pair of lamp posts. Their mouths hung open as if in disbelief
at the manner of their deaths, their tongues distended and black. Their
distorted and swollen faces spoke of a sustained beating before their demise. A
scrap of paper with the word ‘collaborateur’
was pinned to each of their chests.
Nauseated, Jack dragged his gaze away.
Wearing worn, patched clothing, a group of women stood to one side clutching
shopping baskets and conversing in rapid French, seeming to ignore the
grotesque sight. Small children ran around their mothers' legs, playing chase,
giggling, and squealing, showing remarkable resilience to a childhood marred by
the violence and fear of recent years. Jack raised his camera and captured the
juxtaposition of the laughing children and the legs of the hanging men. Two
older men sat at an outdoor table a few doors along, their chess game abandoned
as they viewed the corpses, openly pointing and discussing some aspect. This,
too, Jack photographed before hearing the whistle of an approaching gendarmerie.
He slipped away unnoticed.
It might have seemed harsh, but the French
people had their way of dealing with collaborators, those who'd profited from
the war or had done nothing to stop the brutality of the Germans against their
people. And retribution had been swift. Jack had heard stories of the French
mistresses of German officers having their heads shaved, stripped naked, and
marched through the streets.
Jack took several more turns before
realising that he was a little lost. The sun was setting, and there was still a
curfew, so he needed to hurry. He knew the general direction of his hotel and
continued walking until he found, with some relief, that the paved street he
was on led to the rear of the building. He was about to cross to the opposite
side when he spotted two men in the shadows by the kitchen entrance. He
recognised one of the men and went to call out, but something in their body
language caused him to hesitate.
He watched as they shook hands and murmured
a few words before checking their surroundings. Jack crept forward, keeping to
the shadows of the shuttered shopfronts, and watched as his acquaintance pulled
an envelope from the inside pocket of his overcoat and passed it to the other
man. Jack raised his camera. Click.
The man took the envelope and looked over his shoulder, a look of fear on his
face. Click.
"Do Svidaniya."
Jack lowered his camera in disbelief and
watched the two men part. The man he knew, hands thrust in his pockets,
strolled, whistling, down the side of the hotel towards the main entrance in
forced nonchalance. The other man hurried in the opposite direction, swallowed
by the shadows.
Jack leaned against the shop wall, a sick
feeling in his gut, and wondered why someone he knew and trusted had just had a
clandestine meeting with a Soviet.
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CNL85KH4
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-war-photographers/id6472555130
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-war-photographers-sl-beaumont/1144383820?ean=2940179153306
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-war-photographers
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1481695?ref=
Books2Read: https://books2read.com/thewarphotographers
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-war-photographers-by-sl-beaumont
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202351751-the-war-photographers
Book Trailer:
About the Author
SL Beaumont is
an award-winning mystery and crime writer with a passion for travel and
history.
She lives in beautiful New Zealand, which is
only problematic when the travel bug bites (which it does fairly often)! Her love of travel
has seen her take many long-haul flights to various parts of the world. Her
enjoyment of history helps determine the destination, and the places she visits
are a constant source of inspiration for her.
Prior to becoming
an author, SL Beaumont worked in banking in London and New York and is now a
partner of a chartered accounting firm in Auckland.
Shadow of Doubt won the 2020 Indie Reader
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Award and was long-listed for the Ngaio Marsh Award
for Best Novel. Death Count was a semi-finalist for the Publisher’s
Weekly BookLife Prize.
Website * Facebook * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Author
Links
Website: https://www.slbeaumont.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thecarlswickaffair/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slbeaumontauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sl-beaumont
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/SL-Beaumont/author/B00GI2MJ6W
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7340177.S_L_Beaumont
Giveaway
$10 Amazon giftcard, ebook of The War
Photographers – 1 winner each!
Follow
the tour HERE
for special content and a giveaway!
No comments:
Post a Comment