Last week, I got a surprising email from my agent, to say that the Royal Aeronautical Society had been in touch, wishing to talk to me about my debut novel, ‘Cathedrals In The Sky’ as part of their ongoing exploration during Black History Month. After a lovely chat with the RAeS guys, we duly recorded the podcast today for transmission later this month.
Cathedrals initially came to me as an idea for a BBC six-part drama, back in the mid-nineties. I duly pitched it, but unsurprisingly, failed to get it off the ground. But the idea stuck with me and in the end, I wrote it as a novel -purely to prevent it taking up space in my head, as much as anything. The side benefit also being the realisation that I was capable of writing a novel and one that people seemed to like.
But I also knew I was deeply unfashionable, writing a WW2 Spitfire story, but making it a story about a far lesser-known component; that of the Commonwealth and how their contribution helped massively in the positive outcome of the war.
It’s sadly perhaps now more important than ever that this historical contribution of people of colour be marked and remembered. They are an integral part of what makes Britain not only ‘Great’, but also *Not occupied by the Third Reich*.
Instrumental not only in the British economy for centuries, but also in helping win two world wars with men, women and resources, rebuilding this country after WW2 and populating the NHS and Transport industries, among many others, moving forward.
The RAeS podcast should be out in a week or so. I’ll drop a link.
Cathedrals is available as a paperback, audiobook and ebook here:
