Easter Greetings
Apr 02, 2026 11:01 am
Hi
Easter greetings wherever you are in the world, and however you celebrate the holiday. In Australia, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays, so it’s lovely long weekend, which I’m very much looking forward to! We’ll be up in our place in the mountains, away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney. Much as I love Sydney (it is a beautiful city, after all) it’s very busy, and the peace of the mountains is like a balm to the soul – I also find I am more creative there, surrounded by nature and space to breathe. Hopefully, I’ll get a bit of writing done.
As the world continues to react uncertainly to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, I’ve been reflecting on the reasons I’ve set so many books in the upheaval of World War 2.
You may not know that Another Time and Place was my very first book, and thus holds a very special place in my heart. In forging Tom and Anna’s story I learned how to write a novel. It took several years and 17 drafts before it was finally published by Macmillan New Writing way back in 2006, and in the writing of it I also became a student of World War 2, in particular the British home front and the lives of the American airmen who flew from the countless airbases across the country.
I’ve always been fascinated by the quiet stories of people in war – those whose heroism often goes unsung, those who suffer untold hardship and loss but whose numbers are never counted in the casualty figures. A couple of years after Another Time and Place was first published, those stories took on a new and more personal meaning, when my husband joined the Australian Defence Force. He went on to serve twice in Afghanistan, as well as countless other deployments away from home, so I came to know firsthand what it’s like to worry and wait for news, and how it feels to keep the home fires burning – trying to maintain a normal family life.
Which is possibly why I found myself returning to the world of Another Time and Place, where I knew there were more stories of love and loss and endurance to tell. Although The Last Goodbye is a dual timeline novel, the chapters set in the past take place concurrently with Another Time and Place: the hero, Matt, is the tail gunner on Tom’s plane (the American Maiden) and Tom also makes a brief appearance in the book.
Writing The Last Goodbye led me to think about others of the crew, and that’s how When the Sun Still Shone came about – set just before Another Time and Place opens, it’s the story of one of the other members of the bomber crew and the English girl he falls in love with.
So the three books are linked not only by their connection to the one bomber plane, but also by their exploration of the far-reaching and enduring human costs of war, which remain as relevant as ever. Let us hope that peace will prevail very soon.
I am so grateful for your continuing interest in my work, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Have a safe and happy Easter,
Kind regards
Samantha
Here are the links to my books. Have you read them all?
https://www.samgrosserbooks.com
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/samantha-grosser
