This is a lovely piece written by my husband Marc Mordey for VE Day.

“Of course, none of my Lavender Road books could have been written without all the people who lived and died during the Second World War. That amazing wartime generation lived through the kind of terrible and tumultuous times that thankfully most of us have never had to experience, and hopefully never will. Their well – documented resilience continues to give me hope that when things get very dark, people do have the capacity to rise to the occasion and are able to show tolerance and compassion even against all the odds.
I salute them.”

The quote above is from the acknowledgements that Helen makes, in the notes at the end of her sixth and final novel in the Lavender Road series, Victory Girls. This novel reaches its conclusion on VE Day, 1945.

If you’ve read Helen’s Lavender Road series right through, you will have absorbed over a million words (and not one is wasted) about the Second World War.

You’ll have encountered unputdownable stories, richly drawn characters; strong women and over confident/ arrogant men, German Prisoners of War, black American soldiers, Canadian pilots. The well off and the poor. Actors, soldiers, publicans and pawnbrokers. Strict nursing Sisters, soft hearted doctors, brewery owners, ne’er do wells, rebellious youths, stalwart workers.

You’ll have learned a great deal about a London community and how its inhabitants coped, and even flourished, despite, on occasions because of, the impact of the war.

You’ll have been transported to wartime Europe, discovered some of the elements of spy-craft, the stresses and strains of operating alongside the French Resistance. Hidden in Italian vineyards. Be on the edge of your seat as the Allied Forces push forward.

You’ll find gritty humour, romance, examples of great courage, moments of extreme doubt.

You’ll even have made the acquaintance of a tortoise called Monty!

And you’ll be hard put to find a more meticulously researched and beautifully crafted series of novels.

In summary, as a reader, you will be enriched, entertained and enlightened.

As I’ve often said, step into Lavender Road and you’ll never want to leave.

And there are, as ever, lessons to be learned from historical fiction, as much as there is from academic writing and other factual reporting.

VE Day on 8th May 2025 was surely as bittersweet for many, as it was 80 years ago? Our parent’s generation learned young how to live alongside of conflict and loss. Today this is true of people in for instance, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, so many other strife riven countries. Even as I write this, citizens of India and Pakistan must be living in fear of imminent escalation into calamity. I heard former President Joe Biden on the radio yesterday speaking of his concerns about “ modern appeasement” and, to some extent in contrast with the celebrations of VE Day in the UK over the last days, the World Service reported that in many European capitals the marking of the event was far more muted and sombre. Perhaps because the sabres are rattling once more, and in mainland Europe they resonate more loudly? The news is ever darker, ever more lowering and even BBC reporters have owned finding they need to switch off sometimes because it is simply too overpowering.

I find myself similarly torn. Not wanting to stick my head in the sand, yet having to moderate the amount of news and current events reporting that I take on board, to try and retain a degree of optimism and resilience.

And, as I’m sure I would have felt if I’d have been my age now ( nearly 66) in 1945, we are a strange species. Capable of inflicting savagery, brutality, and yes, evil upon our fellow creatures. Yet also of creating beautiful art, music, literature. Of demonstrating boundless love, endless compassion. I can only hope that it will be the latter set of qualities that will prevail as we negotiate our way through the potentially perilous paths of the coming years.

And finally, I wanted to record some thoughts about VE Day, in honour of those of the wartime generation which Helen pays tribute to, who I’ve had the privilege to know and to love. (you can find poems about some of these dearly departed within this blog of mine) And to thank them for all they did to make life freer and easier for me and my generation.

And to thank Helen for writing a cracking, enduring set of stories that live on in the memory…and in the hope that, in another 80 years, there won’t need to be some future novelist sitting down to write a series about World War Three.

And my thanks to you for joining me here.

Take care out there.

Marc

9th May 2025