Why a Booktrail?
1945: ‘I’ve come about the bodies. I know who they are.’
Should You Ask Me
What you need to know before your trail
Just before D-Day in 1944, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, an elderly woman walks into a police station. She has information, she says, about human remains recently discovered nearby.
The bodies could have stayed buried for ever – like the pain and passion that put them there. But Mary Holmes is finally ready to tell the truth.
The young constable sent to take her statement is still suffering from the injuries that ended his army career. As he tries to make sense of her tale, William finds himself increasingly distracted. Mary’s confession forces his own violent memories to the surface – betrayals and regrets as badly healed as his war wounds.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Dorset
Isle of Purbeck
The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. It’s a backdrop to this story but it does illustrate a quiet part of Dorset, close to the English channel where war would have been very pronounced as it was very near to the frontline.
Most of the book takes place in the single interview room in Wareham police station. But from this one room, the woman who has come to the police at the age of 86 to confess ends up helping the police officer with her, to question and open up about his own past.
Miss Mary Holmes has a tremendous story to tell – it’s a story of war time Britain. It’s packed into several days of questioning and soon the main narrative is William, the police constable given the job of ‘talking to the old lady who wants to tell her story”. He is war-wounded. A relationship of trust opens up between the two.
This is not just a story of bodies found in a quarry – it’s a story of war time Britain, secrets and self-preservation.
Both characters are wonderfully portrayed and the setting of war torn Britain is heart wrenching and tragic.
Streetview Maps
B) Dorset - Wareham - The police station
C) Dorset - Wareham - North Street
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Should You Ask Me
Destination : Isle of Purbeck Author/Guide: Marianne Kavanagh Departure Time: 1944
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