The Legend of Nimway Hall_1940_Josie Read online

  “And yours, Gideon! My true love.”

  THE END

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed the story of Josie and Gideon — 1940: Josie, the fourth in The Legend of Nimway Hall series. Bringing these two people to life and getting to know them was an enormous pleasure for me.

  Learning about the English Home Front during World War II was as delightful as it was harrowing. I set the story in September and October of 1940 because it was the early days of the war, the Blitz was raining terror on the British people, food rationing was increasing, the men were in uniform and the women were waging their own war in the kitchen, the fields and the factories.

  I loved the idea of bringing the war to Nimway Hall and to Josie, the ancient estate’s courageous Guardian. As the story opens, we find her knee-deep in evacuee children, Land Girls, the local Home Guard, a much-reduced estate staff, two cranky tractors and her widowed father she has just rescued from the London Blitz. Her days and nights are chock-full of wartime charity fund raisers, meeting the strict requirements of the Ministries of Agriculture and Food, organizing knitting circles, leading her local Women’s Volunteer Service, tending the acres of orchards, the mill, and fields of grain.

  Most amazing to me is that Josie’s is just one of the many millions of women and men on the English home front who worked their normal jobs by day and served as civilian soldiers by night, often with no sleep in between. The threat of invasion was real and on-going, and I have only the deepest respect for the brave and devoted members of that generation.

  My own mother was a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ on the American home front, my father was a radioman on a ship on the Pacific front.

  Indeed, the Greatest Generation. This is their story.

  Come find me at my website where you can sign up for my newsletter, linger over my booklist, and learn of my many adventures!

  Enjoy!

  Linda

  Other Books In The Nimway Hall Series

  1750—Jacqueline

  by Stephanie Laurens — available now

  1794—Charlotte

  by Karen Hawkins — available now

  1818—Isabel

  by Suzanne Enoch — available now

  1888—Alexandra

  (by Victoria Alexander; to come)

  1926—Maddie Rose

  (by Susan Andersen; to come)

  Also By Linda Needham

  FOR MY LADY’S KISS

  EVER HIS BRIDE

  HER SECRET GUARDIAN

  THE WEDDING NIGHT

  THE MAIDEN BRIDE

  MY WICKED EARL

  THE BRIDE BED

  THE PLEASURE OF HER KISS

  A SCANDAL TO REMEMBER

  MARRY THE MAN TODAY

  About Linda

  I began my journey on the road to romance writing in 1972 with an overcooked Thanksgiving turkey and my nose buried in a delicious copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss’s first novel, THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER. Reading had always been one of my favorite obsessions, but Woodiwiss had for the first time fused the sweeping majesty of history with the sensual power of romance, and from that moment the romance novel industry went into high gear and was changed forever. I was desperately hooked on historical romance and soon after began secretly writing my own romance novel. I had a lot to learn!

  Nearly 25 years after that fateful Thanksgiving weekend of 1972, my unpublished manuscript, FOR MY LADY’S KISS won 1st place in six romance writing competitions, 2nd and 3rd place in six other competitions, and the 1995 Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart for Long Historical. Two months later the book sold, along with a one-line proposal for a second book, EVER HIS BRIDE, to Avon Books, and, in February 1997, my first novel—FOR MY LADY’S KISS was released to my great delight! More books followed, with five hitting the USA Today Bestseller list.

  Of course, like every author, I started writing in early grade school, as soon as I realized that I could put my own words together to make my own stories, just like the authors of my favorite childhood books–BEAUTIFUL JOE and HEIDI and the Nancy Drew mysteries.

  My love for storytelling eventually led me to a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts at California State University, Dominguez Hills where I gained a deep understanding of character development, dialogue, scene-shaping and plotting techniques. I’m also a playwright, one of the lucky ones who have had full productions of their works–seven full length musicals, four revues and two full-length plays.

  I write full-time from my home office near Portland, Oregon. And when I’m not writing, I’ve been known to direct plays and musicals, garden ’til I drop, hunt mushrooms, spoil my two grandkids, take extended research treks with my hero husband and blaze trails through our 5-acre woodland with Pippa, our Portuguese Water Dog who holds numerous titles in the new canine sport of Nose Work.

  https://lindaneedham.com/