When I signed the contracts to write a book about the Battle of Britain, my first thought was that it would be easy to research. Plenty of other books about the topic. Lots of museum displays. Actual BoB aircraft still flying after all these years, as I knew from a previous visit to the Imperial War Museum's Duxford annex. But after reading Len Deighton's Fighter to better understand the story arc and begin to contemplate a way to tell the story from a unique perspective I realized I had a problem: too much information.
So as part of the sifting and sorting process, i planned a preliminary research trip to London. My cross country team at Santa Margarita HS was traveling to Hawaii for a meet that same week. The plan was to fly to Honolulu with the squad, then fly all the way to London for a week. Calene was going to do the Hawaii leg, then fly home. Her cancer diagnosis was six months old and she didn't think she'd have the energy to join me. But a couple days before the London flight, sitting in our room at Turtle Bay with the sounds of Pacific surf just outside the window, she changed her mind. The queen had just died and it seemed like a special time to be in London. I called United, rebooked her ticket, and on to Heathrow we flew.
Best research trip ever. Churchill War Rooms, air museums, and we even stood in line with thousands of others to pass by the queen's catafalque as she lay in state. Callie wore a stocking cap to hide the hair loss from chemo. She never took it off as we rode the Tube, ate in pubs, and walked the city.
But when it came her turn to stand at the front of line and pay her respects, she bravely whipped off her beanie and curtsied to the queen, not caring at all that the BBC was broadcasting the sight of her beautiful bald head to the entire world.
We're not British. But Elizabeth plays a role in the book. Just being there at that time in history gave us both an emotional attachment to London which later carried over into what I finally wrote. I've never felt more connected to a book than Taking London.
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Forty days until Taking London goes on sale! You can find it online as well as book stores and big box stores everywhere.