Stranger than Fiction

12/11/25

I really enjoyed presenting my talk “Stranger Than Fiction” to the Society of Women Writers and Journalists.

The three authors I spoke about were:

– the ambitious writer who became a Guinness Book of World Records holder, and tracked down Dr Crippen’s mistress after she went into hiding;

– the brave author who flew Spitfires in WW2 then moved to Scotland in search of the Loch Ness monster;

– the determined bestseller who campaigned as a suffragette and defied the Nazis in occupied Italy.

Ursula Bloom, CL Skelton and Naomi Jacob were three highly-popular, bestselling authors who also lived through the defining moments of the twentieth century. In my talk I explained how I came to reissue their work, and shared how their personal stories influenced their writing, proving that fact can indeed be stranger than fiction.

After the talk there was a very interesting and thought-provoking discussion with SWWJ members. Thank you to them for inviting me to speak to them again.