Today, I am excited to welcome Victoria Cooke to my blog, as part of her one day blog blitz, via Rachel’s Random Resources.
Victoria is celebrating the publication of her romantic comedy, It Started with a Note, and talking about her research and the inspiration behind the book. Over to you, Victoria …
Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you to you, for welcoming me onto your blog.
I’d never really thought about researching my family history. I knew a little bit about the two or three generations before me but that was about it. It wasn’t until we were approaching the centenary year of WWI that my mum told me her grandad was killed in The Battle of the Somme. I was on my second round of being eighteen at the time and was quite flabbergasted that I never knew this before, especially since there had been so much in the news about the battles 100 years earlier. It was my cousin who discovered that my great-grandfather was commemorated on The Thiepval Memorial to The Missing, in France and actually visited the memorial. This in turn, prompted me to plan a trip with my family. In 2017, we travelled to Arras (which features heavily in ‘It Started With A Note’ and is well worth a visit if you fancy touring the battlefields).
We visited many memorials, and what was staggering was the not just the number of names on a memorial or the headstones in the cemetery, but the number of memorials and cemeteries. It’s eye-opening and really puts into perspective how many young men were killed in the Great War. The Calais region of France is beautiful, but everywhere you look you’ll see the scars of war. The local people really do work hard to keep the memory of the soldiers alive and take great care of the memorials, cemeteries and museums and this was the same when we crossed the border into Belgium to visit Ypres and Passchendaele. Every town we visited had its own WWI story, many were destroyed then, and again in WWII which is truly unthinkable.
Being there was an incredibly moving experience and WWI was such an important part of our history that I knew I had to do something to mark the centenary in my own way. My genre is romantic comedy, and whilst it wasn’t immediately obvious how to weave factual WWI history into a rom-com, I gave it my best shot. The protagonist, Cath, embarks upon a similar journey to the one I took, but in her case, the trip is out of her comfort zone. Like her great-grandfather one hundred years before her, she isn’t used to travel and is embarking upon a journey of uncertainty (albeit a much safer one). The story is set in the present day and is a romantic comedy with historical reflection which I hope brings a unique flavour to the genre.
if you ever get the chance to go to Northern France to tour the museums and see the historical sights, I’d highly recommend it.
Thanks for the great post. I have a passion for history and enjoy reading romantic comedies so you’ve got me hooked! (Heads off to download book.)
Discover more about It Started With A Note
One lost letter. A chance to change her life!
Superhero single mum Cath always puts other people first. But now that she’s seen her son safely off to university (phew!), life seems a little, well…empty.
So when Cath unexpectedly discovers some letters written by her great-grandfather during the First World War, she decides to take herself on an adventure to France to retrace his footsteps.
Cath expects to spend her holiday visiting famous battlefields and testing out her French phrase book. What she doesn’t anticipate is that her tour guide, the handsome Olivier, will be quite so charming! Soon Cath isn’t simply unearthing the stories of the past – she’s writing a brand new one of her own, which might end up taking her in a very unexpected direction…
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Published by: HQ Digital
Buy the book: Amazon UK | Amazon.com | Kobo
About the author
Victoria Cooke grew up in the city of Manchester before crossing the Pennines in pursuit of her career in education. She now lives in Huddersfield with her husband and two young daughters and when she’s not at home writing by the fire with a cup of coffee in her hand, she loves working out in the gym and travelling. Victoria was first published at the tender age of eight by her classroom teacher who saw potential in a six-page story about an invisible man. Since then she’s always had a passion for reading and writing, undertaking several writers’ courses before completing her first romantic comedy novel, ‘The Secret to Falling in Love,’ in 2016.
Cooke’s third novel, Who Needs Men Anyway? became a digital bestseller in 2018.
Find out more about Victoria Cooke and her work via: Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |
Giveaway to Win a Signed copy of It Started With A Note (UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
A big thank you, to Rachel Gilbey whose super power is efficiency in the art of organising fabulous book promo, and to Victoria Cooke for the great post. x
Carol Thomas writes contemporary romance novels, with relatable heroines whose stories are layered with emotion, sprinkled with laughter and topped with irresistible male leads. Discover more here.
