Today I welcome British novelist Deborah Swift to the blog to give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse at her adrenaline-pumping WW2 thriller, Operation Tulip. I was on the edge of my seat reading this immersive and brilliantly plotted book this weekend, and I am in awe of Deborah’s ability to weave authentic historical details with masterful storytelling. Read on for more details about the book and an interview with the author.
Holland, 1944: Undercover British agent Nancy Callaghan has been given her toughest case yet. A key member of the Dutch resistance has been captured, and Nancy must play the role of a wealthy Nazi to win over a notorious SS officer, Detlef Keller, and gain crucial information.
England: Coding expert Tom Lockwood is devastated that the Allies have failed to push back the Nazis, leaving Northern Holland completely cut off from the rest of Europe, and him from his beloved Nancy. Desperate to rescue the love of his life, Tom devises Operation Tulip, a plan to bring Nancy home.
But as Nancy infiltrates the Dutch SS, she finds herself catching the eye of an even more senior member of the Party. Is Nancy in too deep, or can Tom reach her before she gets caught?
Inspired by the true events of occupied Holland during WW2, don’t miss this utterly gripping story of love, bravery and sacrifice.
What inspired you to write about that particular era or character?
I have already written a number of books set in WW2 – in fact this will be my sixth. I was fascinated by the fact that parts of Holland remained under Nazi occupation after the rest of the country had been freed, and I began researching what might have happened to the Dutch population during the so-called ‘Hunger winter’. During this time because the country was cut off from supplies, the Resistance networks began to crumble and it became more difficult to feel any sense of hope. I wanted to write about what it would be like to be under such pressure.
How did you create a realistic setting for your story?
I read many memoirs of people who lived through this period in Holland and I have visited The Hague where the book is set. I also did a lot of internet research for maps and for photographs taken at the time. Some of the photographs of the starving population are quite harrowing, but the photographs bring home the reality of the situation and what it was like for the thousands of Dutch in the Northern occupied cities.
Do your research findings guide the plot, or do you plan out the plot first and flesh it out with research? (Or perhaps both?)
I write without any outline, just a one page idea of where the plot might go. The research then supplies me with other ideas and I try to integrate these as I go along, using the real characters and events if possible, alongside my fictional characters. Because the research drives the plot I don’t have a fixed idea at the outset but let the plot come out of what I discover. This means I sometimes have to do a lot of re-writing, but it also keeps me engaged and interested right to the end.
Name three historical facts or events that helped bring your main character to life.
My character is based on real life heroines of the SOE – agents that were dropped into occupied countries. I was inspired by the radio operators and couriers whose lives are quite well-documented. Also Dutch Resistance fighters such as Hannie Schaft and Truus and Freddie Oversteegen, who took great risks to discover intelligence useful to the Allied cause. The novel is set in and around The Oranjehotel which was the prison used by the Nazis to house Resistance prisoners. There is a museum there now which tells its story, and this was one of the linchpins of the plot. In the novel I also make use of the humanitatian aid drops, Operation Manna and Operation ChowHund. These were food drops by British and American planes and saved many lives at a time of desperate need.
Do you completely plan out your cast of characters before writing, or do you sometimes add new characters as you go along?
As I don’t plan, characters do pop up whenever I think they are needed. I usually have one or two main characters, and the rest seem to just appear when they feel like it! In this book, the character of Steef, Nancy’s main contact for the Resistance arrived in exactly that way, and he was a very useful man for driving the plot. Of course later he meets a sad end, none of which I’d planned beforehand. What became apparent when I was writing the book was that the Resistance in Holland was always in flux because many agents did not survive for long. There were many collaborators with the Nazis on Dutch soil, and allegiances could switch at the drop of a hat. I wanted to portray this, and so there are more characters in this novel than in many of my others.
Do you have any tips for other writers about keeping track of your historical fiction research?
I keep track of it as I go along through notebooks and through annotations to the text by using the comments box. I always save a copy of the annotated version before sending the clean version to my agent and editor.
What do you have planned for your next writing project?
I am editing a new book at the moment – Last Train to Freedom. It is set in Russia on the Trans-Siberian express. That is set in the 20th Century, but I do also love to write about earlier periods and have a fourth book in the Poison Keeper Series on the go too. I like to mix periods to keep myself interested, and so I don’t get stale, and I’m currently working on a novel set in Shanghai.
‘A well crafted tale… this book did not disappoint’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘There is action, mystery and romantic entanglements stirred into the story for a fantastically entertaining read’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Deborah Swift never disappoints’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A joy to read‘ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Universal Buy Link: http://mybook.to/Tulip
Buy Link for bookstores:
https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/operation-tulip-ww2-secret-agent-series-deborah-swift
Deborah Swift is a USA TODAY bestselling author of twenty books who is passionate about the past. Deborah used to be a costume designer for the BBC, before becoming a writer. Now she lives in an old English school house in a village full of 17th Century houses, near the glorious Lake District. After taking a Masters Degree in Creative Writing, she enjoys mentoring aspiring novelists and has an award-winning historical fiction blog at her website www.deborahswift.com.
Deborah loves to write about how extraordinary events in history have transformed the lives of ordinary people, and how the events of the past can live on in her books and still resonate today.
Recent books include The Poison Keeper, about the Renaissance poisoner Giulia Tofana, which was a winner of the Wishing Shelf Book of the Decade Award, and a Coffee Pot Book Club Gold Medal. Her most recent books are The Silk Code and The Shadow Network both set in the Second World War.
Author Links:
Twitter https://twitter.com/swiftstory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordeborahswift/
Website www.deborahswift.com
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/deborahswift1/
Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/deborah-swift
Amazon http://author.to/DeborahSwift
Thank you so much for hosting Deborah Swift today with such an insightful interview.
Take care,
Cathie xo
The Coffee Pot Book Club
It’s always a pleasure, Cathie!