THE HORRORS OF FLOODING - NOVELIST MARGARET DICKINSON'S GRIM MEMORY OF 1953

Margaret  at Boyes of Cleethorpes with store manager Sam(right) and staff colleague Helen

NOVELIST Margaret Dickinson well understands the anguish and heartbreak currently being experienced  by those whose homes have been flooded in Herefordshire, Shropshire, East Yorkshire and elsewhere.

As a schoolgirl growing up in an East Lincolnshire village - Chapel St Leonards - the family home was engulfed by the North Sea surge of January 31, 1953.

Margaret, who earlier today was in Cleethorpes and Grimsby to promote her latest book, said of the floods: “It was a terrible experience.

“We has 12 inches’ water inside the house.

“Our situation wasn’t as bad as what's been happening recently because it was a one-off. 

"Coastal flood defences were rebuilt more sturdily, so it didn’t happen again unlike what has been happening in some communities this month.

“But seawater causes damage that is long-lasting - you never get the salt out of the walls.”

Margaret has been touring selected towns and cities to meet readers and sign copies of her excellent new book, The Spitfire Sisters (panmacmillan £7.99).

Another delighted reader - the novelist signs for customer Margaret Pearson 

Like her previous novels, now numbering almost 30, it is a tale of romance and tension set in a time gone by - in this case Lincolnshire in the run-up to the 1939-45 war and beyond.

It is an excellent read, the fictional personal frictions mirroring gritty and worrying real-life events as Mussolini and Hitler embarked on their militaristic campaigns to conquer neighbouring nations and gain territory.

As the title indicates, the activities of Air Transport Auxiliary and the RAF provide much of the backdrop.

Margaret’s great strength as a novelist is her knack for realistic dialogue. 

The skill with which this is deployed reveals moods and feelings and keeps the action bubbling along at a lively pace.

Yesterday's  signings were firstly at Waterstone’s in Freshney Place, then Boyes in Cleethorpes.

Further signings are lined up at shops elsewhere in Lincolnshire, plus one at Meadowhall in Sheffield, then one at Loughborough near where she lives, having moved from Skegness.

She writes one novel a year and is currently well advanced with her next which will also feature strong females in a World War Two context.

“As long as nothing prevents me, I hope to carry on writing for a few years yet,” she says cheerfully.

The latest from Margaret -  as ever, vibrant and engaging