I’m chatting to Patricia today about her debut novel, The search for Happiness.
Patricia lives in Cardiff with her husband. Having spent her working life as a nurse and then a nurse lecturer at Cardiff University, she’d intended to write a reference book on Reflective Practice after her Masters’ thesis in that subject. However, her creative juices took her on a different path towards fiction and romance and set particularly during the second world war. But it wasn’t until she retired she was able to fulfil her dream to turn away from academic writing to storytelling.
She became a member of the Romantic Novel Writing Association, joined the local Cariad Chapter and benefiting not just from the New Writers Scheme, but also several writing friends who were happy to provide beta support.
Thank you for hopping over to my blog, Patricia. I’m delighted to see The Search for Happiness Out in the world, I know it’s been a fair old journey for you. I’ll ask you about that later, but first coffee or tea, and usually I offer my guests a choice of cake, but I know you make an amazing bara brith, so I’m hoping you’ve brought one with you today. And just between the two of us, is there a secret to making a perfect one?
I have tried and proven recipes for both Bara Brith and Christmas cake, but they’re a family secret! However, I measure accurately not like my mother who just threw everything in. Then again, annoyingly hers were always perfect!
So can you tell me something about The Search for Happiness, I understand it’s the first part of a trilogy.
The Search for Happiness.
It’s December 1938 when Beth Daly rejects a sexual attack at a dance by the man her mother wants her to marry. Little does she know that as a result he will take his revenge in the bank in Conwy North Wales where they both work. Beth has no choice but to leave the bank to become a part of the Women’s Land Army.
She has loved her brother’s friend Simon Rees, since childhood. As the years pass this love has developed into something more, loving him even more. She has to hide this love from her mother who insists that she have nothing to do with Simon. Her mother vows that Beth will marry the man she has chosen for her daughter.
With the Second World War erupting in 1939, Simon enlists in the RAF and asks her to be his wife. He must wait until she turns twenty-one in December and does not need her mother’s permission.
Feeling safe on the farm she does not realise that there is someone watching her.
When at a Christmas dance with the Land Army, Beth is attacked and abducted away from the village hall.
Will Simon rescue her in time, and will she have to choose between Simon and her mother?
What drew you to write about WWII? Was there a particular story or piece of history that sparked the idea?
I am fascinated by the WWII, my father was a member of the RAF Ground Crew, so the RAF always had to have a part in my writing. I read about the “phoney war”, an eight-month period at the outset of the war during which time there were virtually no little active fighting. I wanted to know more about life in that uncertain period. Then I remembered the John Thaw film “Good Night Mister Tom”, with the evacuee, whose mother wanted him back and introduced the character of Charlie.
Up until reading this, I thought if I’d have been alive during the war, I’d probably have been knitting socks for soldiers. I can’t imagine that would’ve been a happy experience for either me, or the recipient of said socks. But I found the Land Army girls experience on the farm fascinating, I think that’s something I would definitely wanted to have been part of – what about you?
When my research uncovered stories of the Land Army girls and the way they lived, I was hooked.
If you could choose one person to work alongside you as a land-girl, living or dead, who would it be and why?
That would have to be my best friend Gail Owen. She lives in Conwy and is as close to me as were Beth’s friends in my book. We share confidences and have supported each other in the good times and the bad. It was spending many weekends with my friend in Conwy that made me want to base my book there and not in South Wales.
Tell me about a normal writing day for Patricia Williams.
My writing day is far from normal. I write when the muse takes me and the rare times when I am alone in the house. My day job is an exam invigilator, so I make use of my break times. Seeing the students write often makes me want to write myself.
What is your ideal writing spot?
Usually in my living room in the early morning when I am alone. I curl up with a notebook or my iPad.
Do you have a go-to snack when writing?
It’s usually a cup of coffee and a biscuit. The coffee has always gone cold when I am writing I just forget all about it, Thank God for my microwave!
Do you have a go to book, or some other comfort that you turn to, to get away from a hard day writing – and if so what is it?
I like to relax with my cross-stitch projects. One day I will get them framed, for now it’s just the pleasure of seeing each one finished.
What has been the hardest thing about publishing your debut novel?
The process of self-publishing. A dear friend said it would be a steep learning curve and it was. I never imagined there would be so many things to do. The cover and the digital book I found particularly difficult, so once again thanks to her without her whom my debut wouldn’t have been possible.
Thank you for dropping by to chat today, Patricia. Good luck with publication and I look forward to reading the next two in the series. Anni x
Book link: http://bit.ly/3HjzkIV
