92: Maggie Brookes (Acts Of Love And War)

Charlie and Maggie Brookes (Acts Of Love And War) discuss the small group of British Quakers who went to aid refugees during the Spanish Civil War, the way the war tore families apart as people chose different sides, and why she ended her romantic thread differently than might be expected.

All referenced media in this episode:
Francesca Wilson's In The Margins Of Chaos
Maggie Brookes' Acts Of Love And War
Maggie Brookes' The Prisoner's Wife

Buy Acts of Love and War and other books mentioned

Where to find Maggie online

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Where to find Charlie online

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Discussions

01:53 The initial inspiration: Professor Farah Mendlesohn's PhD on the Spanish Civil War
03:39 The very small group of Quakers, including Alfred Jacob, who went out to Spain from Britain to help refugees
07:02 The real life women in Maggie's book: Francesca Wilson, Kanty Cooper
09:30 How the Quakers got their supplies to Spain, and the refugee children's colonies
15:03 What happened to the refugees after the war
18:26 Maggie's fictional characters - Lucy, Tom, and Jamie and having two brothers on different sides of the war
22:20 People in Britain who thought Franco was right, and why they thought that, and we mention the non-intervention pact many countries agreed to
27:27 On why Maggie had one of the brothers die, and who was better for Lucy
29:59 The ending, Maggie leaving Lucy single
32:00 Maggie tells us about the inspiration of her first book, The Prisoner's Wife, and Maggie briefs us on what she's writing now

Photo credit: Lyn Gregory
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