Thanks again, everyone, for all your positive comments and support for my novel and blog!
I wanted to share another excerpt from A Thousand Kisses with you. This is from October, 1917, when Hélène first arrives in Hull, England from Petrograd, Russia. Initially, she lived with her parents-in-law. Everyone called her Helen, and she was learning English and British customs, so it must have been very disorienting. On top of that, although Hélène had treated soldiers coming from the Eastern Front in the hospital in Petrograd when she was there, she hadn’t experienced war firsthand.
When Hélène first visited her sister- and brother-in-law, Minnie Annie and Abe Goodge, and their children, Percy (14), Hilda (12), Edna (10), and Arthur (4), they warned her about the air raids in Hull. The German Zeppelins were one of the most fascinating aspects of WW1: can you imagine a slow-moving airship, with its distinctive whirring sound, flying above the city like a menacing balloon? It sounds almost comical, but, of course, the devastation was real and the city learned to cope with the air raids with a buzzer warning system, window blackout covers, and, later, a system of lights and anti-aircraft guns that were reasonably effective in chasing the Zeppelins away.
When Hélène arrived in Hull, she needed to be fully versed on what to do for her safety. And, well, I’ll let the Goodge family tell the story ...
Here’s the excerpt:
Abe and Minnie Annie told Hélène about the Zeppelin air raids that had caused considerable damage in Hull since the beginning of the war.
“We don’t want to frighten you, my dear, but you need to be prepared if the buzzer sounds the alarm.”
“It’s a huge steam whistle. We call it the Big Lizzie,” said Edna.
“We all go to the cemetery park just across the road from here. It’s safer than staying in the house. You could walk there from my parent’s,” added Minnie Annie. “Mum and Dad have decided to take their chances and just stay in the house, but I strongly encourage you to leave.”
“And you must close all the curtains at night. My Boy Scout troop is helping patrol the streets to make sure no lights can be seen,” said Percy.
“Do the air raids happen often?” asked Hélène, alarmed.
“Sometimes several times a month. The alarm is sounded if the spotters see any danger, but it doesn’t always mean there is going to be an air raid,” said Abe.
“The worst one was in June a year and a half ago. It was so frightening. A bomb fell just a few blocks from our house, on Constable Street. You wouldn’t believe the noise. Why, a friend of mine, Mrs Heddington, barely escaped with her life, and a few blocks further away, a mother and her two sons were killed right in their beds. Gone, just like that! The husband was away fighting in the war. Can you imagine when he heard the news? You’ll see the damage around Hull, especially in the docks and the downtown area. Such a disgrace.”
“The worst is lying in bed at night, thinking there might be an air raid, that we might have to get out of our warm beds and sit in the cemetery with all those dead people, waiting for a big white balloon to drop bombs on us,” said Hilda.
“No, the worst is hearing the whirring sound of the Zeppelin as it approaches,” Percy made a low humming noise as he moved his hand slowly, menacingly in the air toward Hélène, “and not knowing where the bomb is going to land. And when it does, boom!” He banged his hand on the table. “Then it’s really quiet. Until the screams start. Stupid, blood-thirsty Fritz.”
“Percy! Hilda!” admonished Minnie Annie. “I’ll have none of that talk in my house. We don’t need to frighten poor Helen. Our brave British men are over there in France and Belgium, fighting the enemy to keep us all safe. Imagine what they’re going through.” Then, turning to Hélène, she said, “You’ll find us British people very stoic, Helen. We have always made do with what we have.”
“The streetcars let everyone ride for free to get back home after an air raid, don’t they, mummy? If we have to walk further away, we don’t pay anything to get home,” little Arthur said to Hélène.
“Oh, my. Thank you, everyone, for all the advice and information,” said Hélène.
“I hope we haven’t alarmed you,” said Minnie Annie. “But you must be careful for your safety. I know your family in France has been through a lot as well. And you took care of a lot of wounded soldiers when you were in Russia, I’m sure.”
“We have all endured our share of grief with this war,” Hélène murmured and crossed herself.
“Helen was helping the war effort as a nurse in Petrograd,” Minnie Annie said to the children. “That’s how she met Uncle Walter.”
Hélène smiled. “Yes, that’s how I met your uncle,” and she looked around at this harmonious family who so reminded her of her husband’s kindness and generosity.
The photo is of the L9 Zeppelin that did considerable damage in Hull early in the war, dropping 13 explosives and 47 incendiary bombs, and killing 24 people. Bombs landed on Constable Street, just a few blocks from where the Goodge family lived on Rosamond Street.