Strong Female Characters.

     I received an email last week from a reader in the USA. It was a nice email, she liked the book (and those are always nice emails to get!) In the email she explained that she had been a little surprised that my writing featured so many strong female characters, saying:

     "I thought it was going to be a "guy" book, but it wasn't, it was an "anyone" book..."

and:

     “It was great to find a man putting so many strong women in the mix amongst the men. Thanks!”

     She didn't need to thank me,

     What made me write a book with four female characters who are all strong, all independent, all smart, and all capable of looking after themselves and making their own decisions without a guy to help them, was these people:

Bessie Braddock

Anne Frank    

Marie Curie

Helen Keller

Yolande Beekman

Eleanor Rathbone

Malala Yousafzai

Joan Bakewell

Pearl Witherington

J K Rowling

Helen Bamber

Margaret Damer Dawson

Dorothy Lawrence

Rosa Parks

Eleanor Roosevelt

April Ashley

Emmeline Pankhurst

Stella Rimington

Beryl Bainbridge

Sue Ryder

Yvonne Baseden

Virginia Hall

Florence Nightingale

My mum

     And the list goes on…

     I made that effort, and I make that effort, for all of these strong women, and the countless number of other women, living, dead, and not yet born who will make their own way in the life, and fight their own battles.

     I just hope I do them justice. 

      The Darkest Hour on Kindle $0.99 through March 2016