German Newspaper from 1944

German newspaper

Propaganda poster/leaflet

Here's another excerpt from the book transcribed from the diary of a POW in WW2. British Army Royal Engineers Sapper Bill Warren was prisoner for four years, in Germany, working on oil refineries near Berlin producing fuel and lubricants for Germany's war machine. 

About ½ an hour later we met him again, & he invited us up to his home, telling us that his wife spoke a little English, and would be most pleased to cook for us any food we were unable to cook at the farm. We spent a very pleasant hour there – the first time we had enjoyed the comforts of a free man for well over 4 years – sitting on a sofa, or at a table which had been properly laid, all of which was luxury to us. Before we left Frau Kromer, for that was their name, invited us again, with any friends we wished to bring for 3 ‘o’ clock, when she would have some suet dumplings and meat & gravy cooked for us. To anyone who understands the food situation in Germany, this was tremendously generous of her as only the most fortunately placed (or racketeering!) families have anywhere near enough food for their own requirements. On arriving back in the farm it seemed as though our dreams of 3 ‘o’ clock were completely shattered. The Hauptramm had been up and announced that some English had been seen in the village, & if any more went out they would be shot on sight. However, the thought of the blog at Frau Kromer’s was too much for us & away we went at 2:45, the 3 of us & Ray.

 What do you do before settling down to read or work on a book?

I tend to walk my dogs....and cat! Our feline, Rosie, follows us on our twice daily outings, much to everyone's amusement. Here she is below following us along the canal and into the fields....

I asked Jim Ellis to tell me a bit about some of his novels. Please read on and click the title to find each one on Amazon.

The Music Room 

 A unique tale of war and desire about the life of Tim Ronsard, a young Scot: he runs from Clydeside shipbuilding and engineering and volunteers for the French Foreign Legion. Tim Ronsard means to travel as far as the Legion can take him soldiering in Algeria and elsewhere in Africa. But he discovers he can’t break the bonds that tie him to Cliesh, the older woman who taught him about music and love.

One Summer 

In this compelling story of class and religious conflict, Nathan Forrest, a Catholic, a welder and illegitimate son, is reared by his grandmother, a pawnbroker. A gifted jazz trumpeter, Nathan pursues Dorothy Jones, a Protestant girl from a middle-class family. Against a background of decaying Westburn’s doomed (Scottish) shipyards and bitter Protestant-Catholic antagonisms, the young lovers seek to escape the constraints of prejudice and hate.

The Last Hundred

Set in the nineteen twenties in Mexico and the American Southwest. The story of Jock MacNeil’s transformative journey from Apprentice Blacksmith, Ships Boy on a merchant schooner, Jane Brown. Volunteering for the Confederate as Loblolly Boy, aboard CSS Alabama. Stranded in Galveston, he saves the life of a Cherokee soldier and, with him, journeys to Oklahoma to enlist in the Cherokee Mounted Rifles, Confederate Army. Jock MacNeil is a made Chiricahua Apache warrior and husband in a gripping story of adventure, heartbreak and redemption.

Westburn Blues 

Westburn Blues is the story of the Rinaldis from Liguria and their migration to Scotland in the 1890s.  It follows The Music Room and One Summer, the final part of the Westburn Trilogy. The novel is centred on Dante Rinaldi, born to Italian immigrants to the West of Scotland. In 1939, staying with his grandfather, Dante is left in Italy when war breaks out. He grows roots in his family’s rural homeland and, as a young adult, identifies with a band of mountain partisans fighting the fascists. He finds love with Chiarina in the partisan band.  Their passion is delayed when Dante is repatriated at the end of the war. The Rinaldis’ struggles in post-war Scotland influence the life of Chris McCoull, a neglected adolescent who finds his calling and romance while working for a Greek-owned shipping line. Carefully researched, this authentic rendering of the Scots-Italian experience showcases Ellis’ fine eye for historical detail and deft drawing of characters – from sympathetic to genuinely evil.

Only The Leaves Whispering, a prequel to The Last Hundred 

Jock MacNeil, the eldest son of a Highland Catholic family, leaves school at thirteen to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a blacksmith. But after a family tragedy changes his plans. 

At the beginning of his sea-going life as a ship’s boy on the merchant schooner, Jane Brown, he is befriended by retired Royal Navy Surgeon James Gunn. Volunteering for the Confederate Navy, Jock bonds with Assistant Surgeon David Llewellyn, CSS Alabama building in Birkenhead. Living among the seamen, Jock learns to deal with responsibility - and how to defend himself. 

But can Jock survive the cruise of Alabama and fighting for the South, soldiering in the Cherokee Mounted Rifles?

JIM ELLIS

Jim Ellis writes compelling historical novels about lost love, conflicts and characters at odds with their lives in Scotland, who search for enlightenment in dangerous and forbidding places.

A sixth novel, The Near East, is underway. The action takes place in the borderlands of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. A band of soldiers of fortune, led by a Scot, are hired to raise a force of raiders to protect the Yezidis from ISIS.

Jim is from the West of Scotland. He has been a sea-going engineer and a tool setter in a canning factory. For many years he worked in computer manufacturing and spent a decade as a university lecturer. Ellis has a life long passion for history, and it surfaces in his novels.

 “I like to write. When I’m not writing I’m reading. I listen to Jazz and enjoy travelling the world with my wife.”