The Broken Vow is set in the early months of the First World War. It’s a period I find fascinating, as it was a time of tremendous social and technological change. Victorian attitudes and morals were still entrenched, but young people especially started adopting more modern values.

The Great War left no one in Britain unaffected, and not only because of the catastrophic loss of men. For example, I hadn’t realised until I started researching the historicalbackground that this was the first war in 900 years to endanger civilians on the British mainland. Zeppelin airships dropped bombs and German ships shelled coastal towns. Air raids, blackout and rationing were features of the First World War, not just the Second.

Sea blockades meant that supplies of food were quickly threatened, and the cost of living rose. Refugees from occupied Belgium soon arrived in Britain, and were mostly made welcome: some of them built the Belgian Promenade in Anglesey, which I’ve visited several times on holiday.

I was particularly interested in the way women’s lives changed. The Edwardian ideal was for women’s place to be in the home, and this attitude was especially strong in my home country of Wales.

There were working women, of course, when the war started, mostly in domesticservice, shops and factories. But in the early months of the war, with prices rising, the upper classes started economising by letting their servants go and spending less on hats, clothes and hotel stays. Many women lost their jobs.

Soon, though, factories started employing women to take over from the men who had joined the armed forces. It’s easy to forget that at that time women had no say in the politics of their country going to war, yet they kept the country going. The war could not have been won without the supplies they manufactured, often at great risk to themselves as safety rules were relaxed to increase productivity. It must have left a bitter taste when they faced criticism for stealing men’s jobs. Middle- and upper-class women also did their bit through voluntary work, even in the face of patronising exhortations by men in government to “go home and sit still”.

In The Broken Vow, Charlotte Fitznorton converts her ancestral home into a convalescent home for shell-shocked officers, and working-class Maggie Cadwalader starts work in a munitions factory. I hope I’ve done justice to the women who kept the home fires burning, in reminding us of the significance of their contribution to the war.

If readers have found it interesting to learn about the home front during WWI, they may be pleased to hear that I’ve recently been signed up by Storm Publishing to write two newhistorical novels. These will be set during the early months of WWII. Charlotte Fitznorton will appear again, and there’ll also be some new characters to get to know!

Blurb for The Broken Vow, released on 22nd January 2024:

Marriage was what Charlotte had been brought up to. After all, it provided a happy ending for all the heroines in the novels she sometimes read. So it would be for her… right?

Born into luxury, Charlotte Fitznorton has always known a life filled with lavish parties and a line of suitors, all part of a future neatly laid out for her by her father, Sir Lucien. She is to marry well and continue the line at Plas Norton, the family seat.

When Eustace Chadwycke – son of a viscount – proposes just before leaving to fight in France, it seems Charlotte’s destiny is perfectly falling into place. Then, tragedy strikes. Her father dies unexpectedly, and her future hangs in the balance – threatened by her hated stepmother Rosamund’s surprise pregnancy. News of Eustace, returning from the war broken by its horrors, leaves Charlotte fearing her engagement may be as fragile as her inheritance.

Determined to at least save her impending marriage, Charlotte pours her energy into turning Plas Norton into a healing place for Eustace and other war-weary soldiers. But small-minded townspeople, a bossy head nurse, and her newborn baby sister’s arrival push Charlotte to her limits. Just as hope is slipping through her fingers, a mysterious stranger arrives at Plas Norton. This newcomer holds the power to upend everything Charlotte has fought to preserve. Will she have the strength to protect her legacy, or could this unexpected visitor awaken a desire in Charlotte for a different life altogether?

A beautiful and heartbreaking historical novel, if you loved anything by Fiona Valpy or Lucinda Riley, this book is for you

Author bio:

Luisa A Jones lives in South Wales, and takes inspiration from the Welsh countryside, towns, history, and of course its people. Her writing explores the dynamics within relationships, the pressures that mental health issues can exert on people, and how these can be overcome.

Luisa studied Classical Studies at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. Her previous jobs have included tour guide in an historic house; teacher in both primary and secondary schools; careers adviser; and corporate trainer/assessor.

Luisa loves using her creativity for crafting and baking, as well as writing historical and contemporary fiction with romantic elements. She and her husband are the proudowners of Gwynnie, a Volkswagen camper van built in 1974, which inspired the story behind Luisa’s first book, Goes Without Saying. They have three children, a dog, and two cats.

Becoming an author fulfilled a lifelong ambition. Her first historical novel in The Fitznortons series, The Gilded Cage, was released by Storm Publishing in 2023, followed by the sequel The Broken Vow in January 2024.

Links:

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Book link The Broken Vow