We chat with author C.J. Wray about The Excitements, which is a brilliant and witty drama following two brave female World War II veterans who survived the unthinkable without ever losing their killer instinct…or their joie de vivre.
Hi, C.J.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! It’s lovely to be here on The Nerd Daily. I’m a British author, living in London, though I grew up in a city called Gloucester (famous for a hair-raising annual cheese-rolling contest and for being home to two of the UK’s most prolific serial killers). I’ve been writing since I was a teenager and published a large number of rom-coms as Chrissie Manby before decided to follow my heart and ditch the ‘cute meets’ to write The Excitements, which combines my true loves – history, mystery and comedy.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Encouraged by my brilliant English teacher, Mrs Pocock, I published my first short story at the age of fourteen in a teen magazine called Just Seventeen that I wasn’t allowed to read. I was lucky enough to be successful with my first submission and that gave me the confidence to keep going (I’ve had plenty of rejection letters since). After school, I studied experimental psychology at Oxford, thinking that was what I wanted to do as a career. Alas, I flunked my degree and ended up temping as a secretary at a small audiobook firm in London. Flunking my degree turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me, as the temp work gave me time to write again. Three years later, I published my first novel.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman. It’s the story of a mouse who works as a doorman at an art museum (there’s a secret mouse door) but dreams of becoming a sculptor.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding really changed the landscape for young female authors of my generation.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: A Room With A View by E.M. Forster. I read it for the first time only last year. It is perfect. So poignant, romantic and funny.
Your latest novel, The Excitements, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Veterans cause mayhem in Paris.
What can readers expect?
First and foremost, I hope they can expect to feel uplifted. The Excitements follows ninety-something World War Two veterans, sisters Josephine and Penny Williamson and flits between their wartime adventures – Josephine was a Wren and Penny was in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry – and a present-day trip to Paris, to receive the Légion d’honneur, accompanied by their devoted great-nephew, Archie. Keen amateur historian Archie thinks his great-aunts had only minor roles in the war but he doesn’t know the half of it. As their Parisian jaunt descends into chaos, a number of secrets, official and otherwise, are revealed.
I had a great time writing The Excitements and I hope readers will find it the perfect comfort read.
Where did the inspiration for The Excitements come from?
I found inspiration for The Excitements in many places but primarily in a pair of real life veteran sisters, a London department store, and a park bench.
In 2019, I was commissioned to write the memoirs of sisters Pat and the late Jean Owtram, who both served in WW2. Spending time with the sisters, then in their late nineties, was a real adventure. I was fascinated by their wartime stories, of course, but I was also enchanted by the fabulous, spirited women they’d become. Until I met Pat and Jean, I had a very pessimistic view of getting older but they turned that on its head and inspired me to capture their joie de vivre in fiction. I think its more important than ever to see positive older role models in our cultural lives.
The book opens and closes in Peter Jones, a legendary department store on London’s Sloane Square. It has a marvellous café on the top floor, which feels like a place where the day-to-day frustrations of London life fall away. It has a timeless feel to it, somehow. I knew from the moment I started writing that the book would have to begin there.
The pandemic lockdowns gave me the chance to spend time working out the story and also gave me the opportunity to find inspiration in places I would not have thought to look. While on a ‘sanity stroll’ around my local park, which I came to know very well, I found a memorial bench with the message ‘Toujours gai, Archy’, carved upon it. I was fascinated by the phrase and, googling it later that day, discovered it was a quote from the Archy and Mehitabel books by Don Marquis. I read the books, fell in love – as I imagined Penny and Josephine would have done in the 1930s – and that’s how ‘toujours gai’ became my heroines’ catchphrase.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I had so much fun writing this book. All of the characters felt very real to me and when that happens, writing is like having a conversation with a friend in your head. I have a big soft spot for Archie, the unwitting hero, who tries so hard to keep his elderly great-aunts happy and safe without having the faintest clue just how worldly wise and (in Penny’s case) frankly dangerous they are.
With there a mix of historical fiction, can you tell us a bit about your research process?
I was very fortunate to be able to ask lots of questions about WW2 of three women who had actually been there! My friends Pat and Jean Owtram and Christian Lamb were all very generous in sharing their experiences.
I also did a great deal of reading around the role of women in the war. I especially enjoyed researching the lives of female WW2 agents, such as Christine Granville, Violette Szabo and Odette Hallowes, who were sent behind enemy lines by the SOE (the Special Operations Executive). They were such remarkable women, some of them very young, and they faced danger with such bravery. If you’re interested in reading non-fiction about those women, I can highly recommend The Spy Who Loved by Clare Mulley and Mission France by Dr Kate Vigurs.
What’s next for you?
I’m just putting the finishes touches to a novel called Jinx, which is set between present-day Florence and Japanese-occupied Singapore between 1942 and 1945. I very much wanted to write about the WW2 experiences of British civilians in East Asia and the prejudice they faced when they were repatriated at the end of the conflict.
With it being the new year, have you set any goals or resolutions for 2024?
Read more! My TBR pile has got so tall it rivals the Burj Khalifa. I have set myself a goal of one book a week. Not looking good so far…
Lastly, are there any 2024 book releases that you’re looking forward to?
So many! I’m especially looking forward to reading Blank by Zibby Owens and Piglet by Lottie Hazell.
You can find Chrissie on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and at her website.
