Charlie and Liz Fenwick (The Secret Shore) discuss the women cartographers who were fundamental in the Allies winning the Second World War and the way women at university at the time had to choose between their career and having a family. We also discuss Liz's love of Cornwall, her use of Dorothy Sayer's Gaudy Night, and we go back a few times to the people who were involved in the secret flotillas that preceded the Normandy landings.

A transcript is available on my site

General references:
My previous interview with Liz is episode 35
Liz's TikTok plot walk on Frenchman's Creek
The Woman's Hour episode including women's intuition

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Daphne Du Maurier: Frenchman's Creek
Dorothy Sayers: Gaudy Night
Ernie Pyle: The Best Of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches
Liz Fenwick: A Cornish Stranger
Liz Fenwick: The Returning Tide
Liz Fenwick: The Path To The Sea
Liz Fenwick: The River Between Us
Liz Fenwick: The Secret Shore
Liz Fenwick: A Portrait Of You

Buy the books: UK || USA

Release details: recorded 25th March 2024; published 24th June 2024

Where to find Liz online: Website || Twitter || Facebook || Instagram || TikTok

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:45 You'd wanted to write about the secret flotillas for a long time?
02:58 Women's work in cartography in the Second World War
05:48 Furthering this discussion we go to Liz's character, Merry, or Dr Tremayne, and begin a discussion on what Liz left out of this book
09:42 More about Merry's work in the context of how a woman had to choose between a career and having a family, particularly in the context of Oxford University
16:06 Merry's mother, Elise, including her story in The Secret Shore
19:46 The romance in the book, including the love story
23:00 Liz's love and use in her novels of Frenchman's Creek, Cornwall
25:06 Ridifarne!
27:01 Is heart or head more important?
28:16 Liz's use of Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night and the character of Peter Wimsey
31:19 The real people in the book and how Liz made it all happen
33:38 All about Maurice Cohen and the mouse
35:22 The sacred wells in Cornwall
38:14 All about Liz's plot walks, which she releases to TikTok
41:03 Does it feel strange when you're not writing about Cornwall?
44:10 Liz's next book, A Portrait Of You

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