5 Things You Didn't Know About Me: A Guest Post by Caroline Beecham
I’m on maternity leave! During this time, a few of my favorite authors offered to step up and write guest posts so that this blog would remain active while I adjust to my new role as a mother. I may also be a bit slower to respond. Thanks for understanding and for being so supportive of me, my family, and my blog. Want to donate a few dollars to keep this blog running or perhaps contribute to my diaper fund? You can do so on Venmo or Paypal.
5 Things You Didn't Know About Me: A Guest Post by Caroline Beecham
MY FAVOURITE COLOUR IS GREEN
I love green in nature, clothes, interior design, food; in fact, you can never have too much green. Ever. I love trees and gardens and quite a few of my favourite foods are green; broccoli, asparagus, rocket, artichokes, spinach, avocadoes. A favourite interior designer is Kit Kemp of Firmdale Hotels, and she uses a lot of green in her wonderfully eccentric English design.
I HAD A LOT OF JOBS BEFORE I BECAME A FULL-TIME WRITER!
My first paid job was in a Jewish bakery when I was fourteen. They made the most delicious pastries, breads, cheesecakes, and biscuits and luckily at fourteen you can eat heaps and not get fat! I also had some memorable jobs through school and university that include working in restaurants, bars, a shoe shop, and delivering lost luggage for an airline. I worked for a film company one day a week in the year before I graduated because I knew that was the industry I wanted a career in; it was a great opportunity to get a foot in the door. I had the experience of being involved in varied and interesting projects from feature films, to factual series, and even flew to Geneva for the day to interview Phil Collins.
I HAVE A PAIR OF TAP SHOES AND LOVE TO TAP DANCE
I have always loved musicals, Singing In the Rain, 42nd Street, Anything Goes, and used to go to dance school as a child where we put on shows for relatives. A few Christmases ago I bought myself a pair of tap shoes; ‘why not I thought?’ until I realised I had scratched all the tiles on the veranda! Now I have to choose a safe place to dance. I suppose some people sing, other people dance. Happy Feet!
5 Things You Didn't Know About Me: A Guest Post by Caroline Beecham
THE FIRST BOOK I HAD PUBLISHED WAS A NOVELISATION…
I did lot of film and TV development early in my career and was development executive and production coordinator on the family feature film, Rainbow. Since I knew the story so well and the screenwriter didn’t want to write the novelisation, I got the chance to ‘audition’ for the job by writing sample chapters. Luckily for me the editor was happy with what she read and I got to write the novelisation. I do have a stack of ideas for children’s books too so maybe I’ll get around to finishing them some time soon. But in the meantime, it’s a good reminder to take the opportunities that are offered to you and work to create your own if they don’t.
5 Things You Didn't Know About Me: A Guest Post by Caroline Beecham
MY US DEBUT NOVEL IS BASED ON A FAMILY SECRET…
My grandmother passed away in November 2019 so thankfully I got to see her before lockdown as we were extremely close. She was in the Land Army during the Second World War and was part of the inspiration for my interest in the era and the untold women’s histories. She shared her experiences of the war years as well as our family history, and surprised me one day by revealing that someone in our family sold their unwedded daughter’s baby to a childless couple in a nearby town. I think the understanding at the time was that it was helpful to both parties. I was quite shocked by this until I started looking into it and realised that it was quite a common occurrence. Thankfully we have come a long way since then and societal expectation means that there isn’t the stigma there was fifty or a hundred years for unwedded mothers. My character Alice in When We Meet Again, is an unmarried mother who manages to cleverly combine her search for her missing child with creating much needed books during wartime. One of the rewarding parts of writing historical fiction is being able to shine a light on these issues and the women who had to endure hardship, inequality and discrimination, and deserve to be remembered.
Thanks so much for having me and happy reading!
5 Things You Didn't Know About Me: A Guest Post by Caroline Beecham
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Caroline Beecham is the bestselling author of four books: Maggie’s Kitchen (2016), Eleanor’s Secret (2018), Finding Eadie (2020) and Esther’s Children (2022). Her debut novel was shortlisted for Booktopia’s Best Historical Fiction in 2016 and nominated as Book of the Year, and Caroline as Best New Author, by AusRom Today. Her US debut novel, When We Meet Again, was published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 2021.
Caroline has been sharing stories for over twenty years, firstly through documentary, film and drama, before discovering her love of fiction writing. She now combines her passion for telling stories inspired by real events with shedding light on lesser-known histories and particularly those of pioneering women.
“Books about the power of stories to bring people together and nourish their spirits are my favourite kind. So it was with much joy that I read When We Meet Again, a wonderful tribute to all things bookish. But it is also a compelling exploration of a heartbreaking and little known aspect of wartime life. The research, compassion and sensitivity poured into the novel are admirable and make for a deeply affecting read.” –-Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret
Caroline grew up at the English seaside and relocated to Australia to continue her career as a writer and producer in film and television. She has worked on a documentary about Princess Diana lookalikes, a series about journeys to the ends of the earth, as well as a feature film about finding the end of the rainbow. When Caroline decided on a new way of storytelling, she studied the craft of novel writing at the Faber Academy in 2012 and with Curtis Brown Creative in London. She has an MA in Film & Television and a MA in Creative Writing and lives with her husband and two teenage sons by Sydney harbour.
You can contact Caroline and find out more about her books on her website: www.carolinebeecham.com
www.facebook.com/Caroline.J.Beecham
www.instagram.com/carolinebeecham
5 Things You Didn't Know About Me: A Guest Post by Caroline Beecham
