Scottish artist Doris Zinkeisen was one of only a handful of women who worked as an official war artist during the Second World War. When the War Artists’ Advisory Committee was set up in 1939 to make an artistic record of Britain at war, 400 artists took part in the scheme; the majority were men,…

The Real Story My interest in the role of war artists grew when I discovered how the fate of many British artists changed dramatically from the outset of the Second World War; with fewer artworks being bought, and less illustrations and lithographs for books and magazines, their livelihoods virtually disappeared. The War Artists’ Advisory Committee…

As well as viewing Second World War art, background reading and referencing original artist war diaries, I also visited the locations that were important settings for the book, such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, the British Library. And also the physical locations in London that the characters inhabit: the bustling streets…

Like her debut Maggie’s Kitchen, Caroline Beecham’s second novel springs from the experience of women in wartime. Eleanor’s Secret employs a split narrative to deliver a historical romance with a mystery at its core. In on strand, it’s 1942 and Eleanor Roy has been selected by the War Artist Advisory Committee: she years to be…