Finding Eadie

Finding Eadie

ISBN 1760529648

London 1943: War and dwindling resources are taking their toll on the staff of Partridge Press. The pressure is on to create new books to distract readers from the grim realities of war, but Partridge’s rising star, Alice Cotton, leaves abruptly and cannot be found.

Alice’s secret absence is to birth her child and although her baby’s father remains unnamed, Alice’s mother promises to help her raise her tiny granddaughter, Eadie. Instead, she takes a shocking action.

Theo Bloom is employed by the American office of Partridge, run by George’s brother, Walter, and he’s also engaged to Walter’s daughter. When Walter tasks him with helping the British publisher overcome their challenges Theo has to do what’s expected of him before he can return to New York to marry his fiancé.

Inspired by real events during the Second World War, Finding Eadie is a story about the triumph of three friendships bound by hope, love, secrets and the belief that books have the power to change lives.

Finding Eadie is a really important book to me, not just because I’m lucky to have a third novel published, which in itself feels very significant, but because the story was sparked by the recent discovery of a family secret from seventy years ago. This unknown part of our family history triggered a series of questions that I needed answers to, and set me off on a journey that uncovered more surprising events from the Second World War that affected women. In particular, in relation to the illegal trade in buying and selling babies, and baby farming. While sadly, there’s nothing new or unusual about the unfair treatment of women and illegitimate babies, a law that was supposed to be passed in Britain in 1939 to protect them was put on hold because of the war, just when it was needed more than ever.

Alice is the protagonist in Finding Eadie and is fearless in the pursuit of her Eadie, and despite the social pressures of the 1940s and the treatment she endures, she cleverly uses the guise of her work in the publishing world to search for her daughter.

As with most stories, there is light and dark and some of the light comes from the role that London Zoo, a place that is important to Alice and her family, played throughout the war. It kept its doors open to visitors and entertained them with its exotic animals and memorable keepers, some of whom I’ve featured in the novel.

I don’t want to give too much away—and you can read the synopsis and the excerpt—other than to say that Finding Eadie is a perfect read for our times. Its set in the publishing world of London and New York, and the characters are bound together by their shared belief that books have the power to change lives, and their communal fight to publish more books with ever-dwindling resources. Like now, there was an increased demand for books—as a distraction for the troops, for entertainment as the public and voluntary services waited in shelters and during blacked-out nights—and as people strived to understand their world and find an escape. It does feel quite bizarre that history has repeated itself in the challenging first months of 2020 when many of us have turned to books for distraction, information, entertainment, inspiration, escape and hope.

Finding Eadie is a story about the triumph of love; romantic love, parental love and the love between friends, and of course, it’s a celebration of our long-standing love-affair with books and I can’t wait to share it with you!