I am so excited to share with you an interview from Sally Tarpey author of The Truscott Family Sagas.

Whats it about? 1912. Fifteen-year-old Kate Truscott waves goodbye to her family and leaves her small Hampshire village to become a nursemaid to five children she’s never met. Her heart full of hope, she’s looking forward to a new adventure.
Life in town with the wealthy Winton family is very different to anything this simple country girl has known before. Mr Winton is strict but his wife is kindly, and Kate soon settles in. She enjoys looking after her mischievous young charges, and becomes firm friends with Clara, the eldest daughter. At the same time, she can’t help but notice that eighteen-year-old Philip, the eldest son, is so very handsome.
Kate knows that society would never accept a match between a wealthy banker’s son and a lowly nursemaid. So when local gardener Archie asks her to walk out with him, Kate agrees — even though her heart belongs to Philip.
Then war breaks out. Both Philip and Archie enlist in the army and head to France, leaving Kate bereft. When Kate discovers she’s pregnant, she has no one to turn to. Facing the horrors of the workhouse, Kate’s future looks bleak. What will happen to Kate as a penniless unmarried mother at a time when women are judged harshly and the men are away at war?

Hi Sally, I absolutely loved The Country Girl, what was your inspiration to write it? I read in your note that this was inspired by your grandfathers first wife?
I began researching my family history during lockdown and the discovery that my grandfather had been married before and there was a child intrigued me. I found out through census records that she was in service, moved to London and ended up in a workhouse before returning to her childhood home in Hampshire where she met my grandfather. I sensed there was a compelling and moving story to tell here and I really wanted to tell it.
How fascinating! I liked how World War 1 themes were woven in but not the forefront as is so common for books set at that time. Was it a conscious decision to tell a story from the women’s perspective?
For me, the character of Kate and her story was the main driver of the plot. As the story evolved it seemed to me to be a natural progression to explore the feelings and experiences of those left behind during a war, especially women.
The suffragettes get their moments too- how important do you think they were to the time period you’ve chosen to write in?
Central. During the war, women were given responsibilities and volunteered to take on essential jobs that were usually occupied solely by men. Kate volunteers to work in a hospital and sees the horrendous effects of war first hand. Women like Kate were proving themselves more capable than society gave them credit for and the time was right to press for their cause of suffrage. The suffragettes were changing perceptions of the role of British women in society.
Kate is a feisty, female and her resilience shines through. The prologue captures that and had me hooked straight away- is that what you wanted readers to get from your prologue?
Yes, I actually wrote the prologue after I had written most of the story. I decided I needed to grab the reader’s attention from the outset. I knew the end point of the story and I wanted to introduce a question into the readers’ minds that would make them want to read on, in the same way I had wanted to know what happened to Kate.
It definitely worked! I felt very immersed in the time period- are you someone who loves to research?
I do love research and sometimes I have to discard quite a lot of what I become immersed in reading. It’s easy to get carried away and go off on a tangent. Not everything you find out in your research is relevant and however much you try to include it, if it doesn’t fit with the direction of the novel, then it has to go.
It must be tricky to discard! Which authors inspire you and who do you admire?
I think the early influences on my writing were the authors I became immersed in reading as a teenager. Amongst those I read avidly were Thomas Hardy, George Eliot and Daphne du Maurier. Hardy for his interweaving of beautiful descriptions of the countryside into his intricate plots, Daphne du Maurier for her gripping historical fiction and short stories and Eliot for her wonderful observations of human nature. In recent years I have read and admired (amongst others) the work of Margaret Forster, Maggie O’ Farrell, Colm Toibin, Helen Dunmore and Kent Haruf.
Your next book in the series The Country Sisters is out now- what can you tell us about it?

When I finished writing ‘The Country Girl’. I knew that the story of the Truscott family could not end there. I wanted to follow the relationship between Kate and her younger sister, Dot. I have a sister and we are very different in character but have a strong bond and care for each other deeply. In many ways the plot of this second book mirrors the life experiences of my sister and I. She stayed in Hampshire, I moved away. The going away and the coming together, the supporting of each other in times of trouble, these are themes within the story of ‘The Country Sisters’. This is a between the wars story of a family who are undergoing hard times and need to pull together.
Thanks so much for answering my questions, its been a pleasure.
Both books out now!
THE COUNTRY GIRL a heartbreaking and powerful WW1 saga (Truscott Family Sagas) eBook : TARPEY, SALLY: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
THE COUNTRY SISTERS a gripping and emotional 1920s family saga (Truscott Family Sagas Book 2) eBook : TARPEY, SALLY: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
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