An Interview With Laura Jensen Walker

by Grace Topping

 

Throughout my writing journey, I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful writers, both online and in person. Laura Jensen Walker, an online friend, has inspired me through both her fiction and memoirs. Today, Laura tells us about her writing journey and her pleasure writing about unsung heroes. Be on the lookout for Laura’s latest book, Death of a Flying Nightingale.

 

 

Death of a Flying Nightingale

 

Three very different young women serve as air ambulance nurses bravely flying into WWII combat zones risking their lives to evacuate the wounded. Irish Maeve joined the RAF after her fiancé was killed; streetwise Etta fled London’s slums in search of a better life, and farm girl Betty enlisted to prevent the wounded from dying like her brother.

Newspapers have given these women a romantic nickname: “The Flying Nightingales.” Not that there’s anything romantic about what they do. The horrific injuries they encounter on a daily basis take their toll, so when one of the Nightingales is found dead, they wonder: Was it an accident? Suicide? Or something else?

 

After another nursing orderly dies mysteriously, they think: Someone’s killing Nightingales. The friends grapple with their loss all while keeping a stiff upper lip and continuing to care for casualties as they’re being strafed by the Luftwaffe.   www.laurajensenwalker.com

 

 

Welcome, Laura, to Writers Who Kill.

 

Death of a Flying Nightingale is about three air ambulance nurses who served during WWII? What inspired you to write their story?

 

My husband and I were watching an old episode of Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages where she visited the Cotswolds village of Down Ampney. There she interviewed an elderly woman named Lilian West who thought she might be the last remaining “Flying Nightingale.” Lilian revealed that she was a mere seventeen when she volunteered to become a nursing orderly (air ambulance “nurse”) with the RAF—actual nurses had to be officers—and that she and her fellow nursing orderlies were given only six weeks of training before risking their lives flying into combat zones to bring back the wounded. When I learned that the planes they flew in could not bear the Red Cross insignia since they carried supplies and munitions, and as a result the Nightingales were shot at by the Germans, I was gobsmacked. I was further gobsmacked to learn that these nursing orderlies (dubbed “Flying Nightingales” by the newspapers) were not allowed to wear parachutes on the flights home—if the plane was shot down or crashed, they were expected to remain with their patients. 

I turned to my husband and said, “Why have I never heard of these amazing women before? This needs to be a book!”

 

 

Are the characters in your book fictional or based on actual air ambulance nurses?

 

Most of the characters are fictional—including the main three: Maeve, Betty, and Etta—but some of the things they experienced are based on anecdotes from real-life women who served on the planes. Edith “Titch” (Lord) Joyce, was a real woman who gave me permission to include bits and pieces of her story in the book. Some of the other real-life Nightingales also make cameo appearances—including one of the women who died when her plane was shot down by the Germans.

 

I understand that you had the privilege of interviewing the last remaining Flying Nightingale. Up to that point, I imagine most of your knowledge about them had been based on second-hand sources. What was it like talking to one of the actual nurses. Did she shed any light on something that you hadn’t known before?

 

It was a great honor and the privilege of my life to “talk” (via email through her daughter in Australia) to Edith about her experiences as a Flying Nightingale. Edith told me about caring with another nursing orderly for a group of “bomb-happy” (shellshocked) men one night and how many of them cried out for their mothers and she comforted them. One of those bomb-happy lads sent her a thank-you letter afterwards. Edith also told me of the time she ironed a uniform for one of the wounded men in the hospital and he asked if she’d found something in the pocket. She handed him the packet containing his “French letter” (condom) and said she’d never seen a man blush so much. Edith shared many wonderful anecdotes with me that made it into the book that I wouldn’t have been privy to otherwise, for which I will always be grateful. 

 

 

Did serving in the U. S. Air Force and being stationed in England influence your interest in writing a book set in the U. K.?

 

Definitely! As an airman (formerly called a WAF—Women’s Air Force) who’d been stationed at an RAF base not far from the RAF base where these WWII WAAFs (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) were posted, I felt a strong connection to them. (Although I could never have done what they did since I’m squeamish and can’t stand the sight of blood. They saw some horrific injuries—missing limbs, eyes, ears, mouths, terrible burns from bomb blasts, etc. It’s unimaginable.)

 

 

In addition to writing fiction, you’ve written three books very personal to you, Good Girl, Thanks for the Mammogram, and Mentalpause. What prompted you to write your life stories?

Thanks for the Mammogram, the first of the three books you mentioned, was written to encourage other women going through breast cancer and to give them hope for the journey. To show them that someone else had walked this journey before them and to hold their hand through it. (The subtitle was: Fighting Cancer with Faith, Hope, and a Healthy Dose of Laughter.) 

Good Girl started out as a spiritual memoir about leaving evangelical, fundamentalist churches I’d been active in and finding my spiritual home in the Episcopal Church. It became so much more than that. In my first draft, I briefly mentioned being raped when I was nineteen. When a dear editor friend read that first draft, she encouraged me to go deeper and examine how that assault impacted me and colored my life going forward. I resisted at first, not wanting to relive that awful event, but the #MeToo movement gave me the courage to speak up and share my story as well. That wound up being a healing, cathartic journey for me. As for Mentalpause, I had no plans to write that book after going into early menopause after chemotherapy for breast cancer, but both my editor and then-agent said it would be a good follow-up to Thanks for the Mammogram. I figured it wasn’t a bad idea to give women going through menopause some laughs, and voila.

 

Early in your writing career, you started writing Chick Lit. After writing seven of them, what prompted the switch to writing mysteries?

 

After writing my last chick lit, Becca by the Book, my 17^th book in 12 years, I was burned out and felt like I never wanted to write another book again. I wound up taking a decade-long writing sabbatical, during which time I went to work for the State of California to earn a much-needed, steady paycheck, health benefits, and a (modest) pension. Then the writing itch returned. I knew I wanted to write fiction again, but I didn’t want to do chick lit. I was talking to my dear friend Lonnie (the editor who encouraged me to go deeper with my memoir), and she suggested I write cozy mysteries. Having known me for years, she knew what an Anglophile I was and how much I loved cozy cottages, gardens, and tea, and thought that would be a perfect genre for me. 

 

 

Your debut mystery, Murder Most Sweet, the first book in your Bookish Baker Mystery Series, was nominated for an Agatha Award in the Best First Novel category. It was also featured in Woman’s World Magazine and appeared in their list of Best New Books for 2020. Did this recognition put stress on you for mysteries you wrote after that?

 

Not really. I was already contracted for two more cozies, and my journalism background had taught me to write fast and not miss a deadline, so I just put my head down and forged ahead.

 

 

You followed with Hope, Faith & a Corpse, about a female pastor in a small-town church in California, and then, Deadly Delights, the second book in your Bookish Baker Mystery Series. Can we look forward to any more books in those series?

 

I’d hoped to continue with at least one more Bookish Baker title, to complete the series, and also do a second Faith Chapel mystery. Unfortunately, my book sales weren’t high enough for my publisher to offer me another contract. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll wrap those up. Not anytime soon though as I have several other projects percolating.

 

Which have you found more difficult, writing fiction or writing about yourself?

 

Writing fiction. In fiction I need to create an entire world from scratch, a whole cast of characters, conflict, and a compelling, engaging story to keep readers turning the page. As someone who hates conflict, that’s always a struggle for me. Writing about myself is easy (and fast) because I already know the story.

 

After reading 103 books in the first grade and already dreaming then of become a writer, your first book wasn’t published until you were age 40. What finally got you started writing?

 

Breast cancer and confronting my own mortality. Going through an illness that could kill me reminded me that life is short and I needed to overcome my fear that I couldn’t do it (write a BOOK? Me?) and just go for it! 

 

What should we be on the lookout from you next?

 

I’m contracted for two more Nightingale mysteries (releasing in 2025 and 2026) with Level Best Books, and I’m currently writing my first women’s fiction—a story I’m really passionate about. I don’t want to say too much other than the fact that it deals with a neurodivergent woman of a certain age. Having recently discovered—in my mid-sixties—that I’m neurodivergent (which explains a lot), I wanted to explore what this is like from an older woman’s perspective. 

 

I also have another World War II novel set in England (not a mystery, although it has a mystery subplot) that I’m hoping will find a home eventually. Rabid Anglophile that I am, I love that book. 

 

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned since you started writing?

 

To never give up—even in the face of repeated and constant rejection. If one project keeps getting rejected, set it aside and move on to the next. But don’t quit. (Unless you need a break and don’t feel you have any more stories to write.) Walk away, and then come back when—and if—the passion returns. That’s what I did, and now I’m in the midst of writing a story that won’t let me go.

 

Thank you, Laura.

 

To learn more about Laura Jensen Walker and her books, visit her website: www.laurajensenwalker.com

 

 

Grace Topping is the author of the Laura Bishop Mystery Series.