The War Widow
Page 30
The War Widow took over two years to research and write and many more years to conceive as I busied myself with non-fiction writing projects. During this time my family were incredibly patient, and my publishers were, too. I am indebted. My sincere thanks go to HarperCollinsPublishers for twenty years of support through several genres since my first novel was published with them in 1999. In particular I want to thank Anna Valdinger, Katherine Hassett, Nicola Robinson, Rachel Dennis, Alice Wood and editor Amanda O’Connell. Thank you also to my Australian literary agent Selwa Anthony for her ongoing support, friendship and guidance. She has been there since the beginning, and is a great example of the kind of strong and adaptable women who so often inspire my fictional characters.
I owe great thanks to my researcher Chrys Stevenson for her tireless assistance as I went down the rabbit hole of historical period details for over two years, double checking every elevator, street and building in 1940s Sydney; the Australian Sewing Guild for all they have taught me as patron and student and in turn taught the fictional Billie with her sewing and mending skills; fashion historians Hilary Davidson and Nicole Jenkins for their expertise; consultant Dr Sandra Phillips, Professor Larissa Behrendt and Raema Behrendt for their knowledge and research assistance into the history of Aboriginal women’s experiences in Australia; Daking House YHA for access to Daking House and their historical and architectural plans; Joe Abboud for information about the historical block of flats I have renamed Cliffside for the purposes of this book; Bob Waddilove for his knowledge of the Willys 77 roadster; and former Police Prosecutor Sergeant Patrick Schmidt for his assistance.
The characters in this book are fictional, with the exception of Special Sergeant (First Class) Lillian Armfield, who I hope would approve of her brief inclusions, a crime writer’s way of drawing attention to her pioneering work in policing. The reprehensible Franz Hessmann is a fictional character, though Ravensbrück concentration camp was a real place where an estimated 132,000 women and children were incarcerated under extreme conditions, including famine, slave labour (yes, the private companies mentioned were involved as employers of this slave labour), inhumane medical experimentation and sterilisations performed without consent. Very few survived. Specific elements have been inspired by the brave testimony of Holocaust survivors including Simone Lagrange who testified against the Nazi Klaus Barbie about her torture in a bathtub while just thirteen in 1944. It is said that the women forced to work at Ravensbrück, among other things, used their skills in sewing to make soldiers’ socks, adjusting the machines to make the fabric thin at the heel and the toes, causing the socks to wear prematurely when the German soldiers marched, giving the soldiers sore feet. That story appears to be true, and there were real saboteurs at the rocket factory, women who risked all to rebel and keep their spirits alive in unspeakable, cruel and dehumanising conditions. I grew up with my opa, to whom this book is dedicated along with my oma, recalling stories of his escape and of sabotaging bombs in the munitions factory in Berlin he was forced to work in against his will, along with many other able-bodied Dutch men, when Holland was occupied.
I use the term ‘disfigurement’ in this book for period accurate terminology around facial difference, which was a particular challenge for a larger than previous number of soldiers returning from battles from World War One onwards, as weaponry became more advanced, but so too did battlefield medical response and advancements in plastic surgery. I’ve endeavoured to make elements of this book as period accurate as possible, even down to ‘Bell’s Line Road’ where we all now know it as Bells Line of Road, Rawson Lane, since renamed St Laurence Lane, and the escaped circus crocodile from 1946 (the timeline moved forward by just a few weeks for the purposes of this novel, as was the timeline for the Australian release of the film The Killers) but in the case of The Dancers, historians will note the club is made up. Hardboiled fans will recognise the name as an homage to Raymond Chandler’s LA and The Long Goodbye, the white-haired man in this case having anything but an honourable war wound.
Thank you to my family for their love and support – most of all Berndt and Sapphira, and Jackie, Wayne, Annelies, Dad and Lou, Nik and Dorothy, Auntie Linda and my dear friends who have been there through thick and thin.
Here’s to the thousands of brave rebellions by everyday people.
About the Author
TARA MOSS is an internationally bestselling author, human rights activist, documentary host and former model. Her crime novels have been published in nineteen countries and thirteen languages, and her memoir, The Fictional Woman, was a #1 international bestseller. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has received the Edna Ryan Award for significant contributions to feminist debate and for speaking out for women and children, and in 2017 she was recognized as one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life. She lives with her family on the West Coast of Canada.
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Copyright
The War Widow
Copyright © Tara Moss 2019.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Published by Harper Avenue, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Originally published in Australia in 2019 by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited under the title Dead Man Switch
First published in Canada by Harper Avenue, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, in this trade paperback edition: 2020
COVER PHOTO: MAJA TOPCAGIC / TREVILLION IMAGES
EPub Edition MAY 2020 EPub ISBN: 978-1-4434-6122-1
Version 03062020
Print ISBN: 978-1-4434-6121-4
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: The war widow : a novel / Tara Moss.
Other titles: Dead man switch | Names: Moss, Tara, author.
Description: Originally published in Australia under title: Dead man switch.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200179519 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200179527 | ISBN 9781443461214 (softcover) | ISBN 9781443461207 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781443461221 (ebook)
Classification: LCC PS8576.O7867 D43 2020 | DDC C813/.6—dc23
LSC/H987654321
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