I thought it would be a good time to provide a bit of an update on how things were going with researching an writing the book.āHaving signed a contract with Barnthorn Publishing at the end of December 2023 it certainly focused my mind as I now have a deadline for submitting the manuscript!āJanuary 2025 seems like a long way away but when it comes to writing a book it really isnāt!
I had researched and collected a large amount of information about the escapes from the Channel Islands prior to starting to write the book and well before signing up with the publisher.āThere is however much more information out there that hasnāt seen the light of day!āI have been overwhelmed by the response following announcing that the book is underway.āI have received a large amount of information and some photographs from family members of some of those that escaped.
In addition a number of my local historian friends have volunteered information and documents to assist me.āFor this I am truly grateful!āIf you are reading this and have any information, no matter how big or small that you might want to share please do get in touch!āEmail me at Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.ā
If you are worried that this will mean that the blog will be neglected fear not I will still be posting articles on the blog about the occupation in general.
What else is going on?
Well if I wasnāt busy enough with the book and the blog a few other blog related activities are happening.āI have been providing information and contacts to the American TV show 60 Minutes for a forthcoming documentary that they are planning.ā
In early January I recorded a podcast episode with the lovely folks from History Hack which will be out in due course.āIf you donāt listen to their podcast I recommend you do as covers all aspects of history.āThey are a great bunch of historians and great fun if you get to meet them in person.
I was on Radio Guernsey talking about escapes from Guernsey with Jim Delbridge. You can catch it at the link below for another couple of weeks if you are reading this on the day it is posted.
Forthcoming Zoom Q&A!
Another suggestion that I received was a Zoom Q&A about the occupation which it seems that there is a lot of interest in so will be happening in February!āI have persuaded another knowledgable local friend Alasdair Davidson to join me on this.āLook out for further details!āSubscribe to the blog for free here so you donāt miss out!
And there is more!
There is more coming to supplement the blog which I had a meeting about this week but canāt say more than that at the moment!āAll will be revealed in a few weeks time!
Thanks for reading the blog and please do share it with your friends.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search āIslands at Warā or visit our podcast page here.
You can also follow the blog on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs. If you prefer Facebook I also have a page there.ā
If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post or here. Feel free to look around the website, where I have categorised posts to make them easier to find and other resources such as tours, places to visit and films that may be of interest.
If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.
You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.
I will be adding more as time permits. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on social media or add a comment if you did. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.
Ā© Nick Le Huray
