I have just read Jenny O’Brien’s fabulous new book ‘The Book of Lost Children’ which is a novel based inspired by events in the Guernsey during the German occupation.
Having been invited interview, Jenny about her new book at the Guernsey Literary Festival on 26th of April I sat down to read the pre release copy. The next thing I knew I was a third of the way through the book in one sitting and the only thing that stopped me carrying on was it was 11pm and I had a 6 am start the next morning!
Those of you that been following the blog for a while and my social media posts will know that I take the accuracy of historical information relating to the occupation of Guernsey and the other Channel Islands very seriously. I also have very little time to read fiction these days what with the podcast, writing the blog, and of course I am working on my book.
Whilst this book is a fictional novel inspired by true events, to the extent that nurses and others took great personal risks, to help people by keeping them in hospital for longer than they needed to be to protect them from the Germans, ensure that perhaps they got a bit more to eat than they would of at home or indeed to conceal someone who ended up in the hospital who would normally have been arrested by the Germans it is a fascinating novel.
I know Jenny was quite nervous about me reviewing the book and interviewing her at the Literary Festival. Frankly I was quite nervous about reading a fictional book set during the occupation. As my partner Katie will attest, I am the worst person ever to watch a film with if it is about the German occupation or indeed World War 2. During such a viewing I constantly pick up things that couldn’t possibly have happened, are chronologically inaccurate or just plain down wrong and can’t resist mentioning it. I seem to recall that, when I told Katie that I had been asked to review the book and interview Jenny, Katie said ‘Oh Lord does Jenny know what she’s let herself in for?’
I am pleased to report that Jenny had absolutely nothing to be worried about. An accomplished author, with over twenty books penned on varying topics from children’s books to crime series. This is her first outing writing a book inspired by true events, where she had to do three months of reading historical documents and obtaining information from people before the serious writing started.
It is quite something to write a book about the small community that you live in, even if it is novel rather than a history book. The occupation of the Channel Islands is now in living memory of only a few people, but their families are acutely aware of what their parents, grandparents and great grandparents went through. The subject is therefore quite sensitive to some and the pressure to get it right must have been immense. Many people have been, quite rightly in my opinion, annoyed by some supposedly factual history books that have clearly been lacking in any in depth of research let alone some novels that have not really portrayed the hardships people went through.
Jenny and I met one weekend to talk about the book, we had thought we would be chatting for maybe an hour over coffee about the book, two hours flew by and we only stopped chatting because we both had places to be! Jenny was mightily relieved that I couldn’t find a single thing in the book that was wrong from a historical point of view. Down to experiences that I had either found evidence of in the archives or indeed an interview with a lady called Melva Stacy who had been a nurse at the hospital which centres in the book. Jenny was totally unaware of my interview with Melva and was pleased when I mentioned that so many of Melva’s experiences resonated with parts of the book. If you want to listen to Melva’s interview with me, you can catch it here.
There were other aspects of her book which crossed over with research that I had done for my book, not least the experience of French women in the Channel Islands and their treatment by the Germans, which is central to the story she tells. When we met up we ended up talking about the weather during the German occupation something I am somewhat familiar with due to my book being about escapes and the weather being somewhat important to those. My comment to Jenny was I can’t believe you called all of the weather absolutely spot on.
You might have gathered by this point that I think this book is rather good. It is and you really should go and order it now. Buy it from your local bookshop or from Amazon here. If you want to hear Jenny talk about the book and you are in Guernsey on 26 April 2025 go book a ticket here.
If you want to know more of the premise of the book, take a look at the outline below lifted from Amazon.
“A wartime nurse risks everything to protect mothers and babies in Nazi-occupied Guernsey. Decades later, a hidden record reveals a devastating family truth. Based on a remarkable true story of one woman’s extraordinary courage.
Guernsey, 1943. As German forces tighten their grip on the Channel Islands, nurse Evelyn Nightingale guards a dangerous secret. Within the walls of the Emergency Hospital, she’s hidden three babies from the enemy – children who would otherwise face a terrible fate. When a traumatized French woman arrives to give birth, Evelyn must risk everything – with consequences that will echo through the generations.
Dublin, 2018. Still reeling from her mother’s death, Kitty White is struggling to keep her family’s antique shop afloat when a desperate woman arrives with an old violin to sell. Hidden in its dusty case, Kitty discovers a mysterious list of names that shatters her father’s composure. Her search for answers leads her to Guernsey, where she is about to uncover a long-buried secret about her family…
Inspired by true historical events, this heart-wrenching tale will stay with you long after the last page. If you were gripped by The Nightingale, The Alice Network and The Paris Library, you must read The Book of Lost Children.’”
On a final note, thanks to Jenny for giving me a reason for reading this book, it was a pleasure to read and I highly recommended you purchase it! Go follow Jenny on her socials tec here.
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 “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
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© Nick Le Huray