From Preston Community Library
AUTHOR EVENT - TUESDAY 0CTOBER 30, 6.30PM, PRESTON COMMUNITY LIBRARY, CARLTON AVENUE EAST, HA9 8PL. FREE.
The next in our successful series of literary events at Preston Community Library is this Tuesday coming and we welcome the writer Elisa Segrave with her well reviewed book 'The Girl From Station X' - My Mother's Hidden Life..
When her mother died aged only 42, the author was astounded to discover 12 passports in different names: what could this mean?
She sets about reading brilliantly written diaries and letters which reveal that her mother was one of the first women to enlist in 1939, was one of the highest ranking women at Bletchley Park, the secret home of the WW2 Codebreakers, had served in Bomber Command and had been part of the reconstruction team to wartorn Germany. She had also received over 20 proposals of marriage. As the author writes,'my own life seemed dull in comparison'.
As is now realised, all personnel had signed the Official Secrets Act and never spoke about what they did. The book poignantly uncovers the woman behind the mask and paints an unforgettable picture of young lives caught up in the turbulence of their times. It is also a searing memoir of a mother Segrave might have loved if things had turned out differently.