Historical Fiction: In Search of Little-Known Stories

By Julie Hartley

In October 2022 I came across an article about the SS City of Benares, a requisitioned cruise liner that set out from England in September 1940 carrying evacuees to safety in Canada. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat in stormy weather, far from land. Dozens of children died as the ship sank, and dozens more waited for hours in the freezing water for rescue ships to arrive. I searched further and found first person accounts of the tragedy – one by a 13-year-old survivor – as well as bizarre facts: a lifeboat missed by the rescue boat drifted for a remarkable eight days before being spotted. I had never heard of the SS City of Benares, but this story seemed so full of drama and potential that it inspired my latest historical novel: The Promise She Made.

Little-known stories offer a treasure trove to writers of historical fiction and there are so tales waiting to be discovered: how could it be otherwise? What we think of as ‘history’ is so often the story of rich and powerful people who shape world events. Dig deeper, and the past offers up a wealth of stories that belong to the silenced and the disenfranchised. These stories offer a fresh lens through which to view the past. It’s what every writer of historical fiction seeks: a story (mostly) unknown and waiting to be told.

History is a vast and intricate canvas, but when we write historical fiction, we are concerned with just one thread – the unique perspective of people living their lives in the shadow of events often beyond their control. There isn’t just one version of World War II – there are millions of them. At the start of my first historical novel, Her Secret Soldier, a young girl living in rural England in September 1940 feels her life is virtually untouched by world events. She longs for something exciting to happen, but her ‘war’ consists only of figuring out how to feed her family, now rationing is underway. Then she finds an injured German spy in the woods behind her home, and the war descends upon her in a way she could never have predicted. Her war story becomes uniquely her own.

This novel was inspired by another little-known historical event: Operation Lena. In September 1940, Hitler ordered that spies be sent to Britain to pave the way for invasion. The spies who eventually parachuted onto the south coast were so poorly prepared that historians now wonder if someone within the German secret service intended the mission to fail. 

It takes specific stories to bring Operation Lena to life. One spy was captured quickly because he was carrying a German sausage. Another tried to order a pint in a pub before opening hours. A third was captured because he was cycling the wrong way down a road. Most of the spies were not even loyal to the Nazi party – and they spoke English with heavy accents. These details feel so unlikely that they reveal a pitfall historical fiction writers have to avoid:  true stories are sometimes so bizarre that our readers may struggle to believe them.

The strange thing about writing historical fiction is that you need to know only as much as your characters would, and no more. In Autumn 1940, people in Britain lived in fear of a Nazi invasion. The invasion didn’t happen – but that truth is completely irrelevant if your novel focuses on this period. What matters is the undercurrent of fear that would have been a part of everyone’s life. The protagonist of The Promise She Made lives in York, a city that wasn’t bombed at all in 1940 – but my character can’t have known that. The story is told from her perspective, and the possibility of air raids terrifies her.

The stories of women in conflict so often remained untold, and for this reason, they offer endless possibilities to writers of historical fiction. Winston Churchill famously declared that he found the idea of women soldiers to be ‘revolting’, which is why there are few stories of British women in active combat. But sift below the surface, and there are so many stories of courage waiting to be explored. One of my current fascinations is the duties of ARP wardens. Night after night these brave women and men stayed above ground while others sheltered safely. They plunged into burning buildings to save victims of the Luftwaffe raids. And what about the wives of the Women’s Institute? Among other things, they provided people with tea and biscuits in the air raid shelters. I use this example because it seems like such an unimportant role in the war, yet it wasn’t. In bombing London continually for 57 nights, Hitler hoped to demoralise the populace, who would then put pressure on Churchill to negotiate a peace. But no such thing happened. Thanks to the brave ARP wardens, and the WI, and countless other women active on the home front, Londoners rallied together, their spirits indomitable.

Contributions like the ones described above literally helped to win the war.

This is what historical fiction writers so often do. We find little-known stories and show why they matter. We encourage readers to see history from a fresh vantage point; to look beyond history books to the lives of real people. In so many great historical fictions, the main characters are those whose experiences have been ignored or forgotten for far too long.

Seen in this light, historical fiction can often redefine history itself. 

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Julie Hartley is the author of two historical novels published by Bookouture and available now on Amazon: Her Secret Soldier and The Promise She Made. She is the director of Centauri Arts, a creative writing school that offers virtual workshops for writers as well as writing retreats all over the world.

THE PROMISE SHE MADE

As our ship starts to sink, I see flares lighting up the midnight sky. ‘Hold on tight. I will keep you safe. I promise,’ I say to my terrified little sister as I hold back my tears. But I know I can’t hold on for much longer and as she slips away, my heart breaks. Will I ever see her again?

York, 1942. On the night of the Blitz, Ruby returns to her beloved hometown with her heart shattered. She couldn’t keep the one promise she made to her dying mother, to keep her little sister Eliza safe from harm. The Germans have taken everything from her – her family, her fiancé Antoine, and now, her home. When she finds her family home destroyed, she falls to her knees in tears. Among the ruins of her life, she wonders if she has the strength to carry on. But then, she finds a mysterious note which gives her a flicker of hope.

Eliza is alive. I’ve seen her. You must find her…

Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Ruby joins the Special Operations Executive keen to defend all that she has left and fight against the Nazis. Whilst there, she is tearfully reunited with Antoine, who believes he may know what happened to Eliza that dark night on the ocean. Can they reignite their love after all the loss they’ve suffered, and will Ruby ever see her little sister again?

An utterly heartbreaking and emotional wartime novel about the power of family, love and sacrifice, The Promise She Made tells the story of one woman’s courage while facing unimaginable odds. Fans of Fiona Valpy, Soraya M. Lane and Rhys Bowen will be gripped from start to finish.

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