Maggie Brookes

Writer - fiction/poetry

Add to shortlist

Books

Books

Maggie Brookes is an ex-journalist and BBC historical documentary producer turned novelist and poet.  She relishes uncovering stories about the strength of women and the power of friendship and love in the most terrible of circumstances. Acts of Love and War, published in 2022, is a heartrending tale of love, courage and sacrifice, following three young British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. The Prisoner's Wife – based on an extraordinary true story of WW2 – was published around the world in 2020. Maggie taught Creative Writing at Middlesex University for 30 years and has had six poetry collections published under the name Maggie Butt.

www.maggiebrookes.uk

Twitter: @maggie­­__brookes

Maggie's second novel ACTS OF LOVE AND WAR tells the story of Lucy who braves the horrors of the Spanish civil war to bring back the two men she loves - and ends up saving the lives of thousands of children. Published by Penguin Random House imprints Cornerstone (UK) and Viking (North America) in June 2022.

 

Praise for ACTS OF LOVE AND WAR:

'A vivid, immersive novel about a remarkable woman helping refugees in a bitter, heartbreaking war. I couldn't put it down.' Gill Paul bestselling author of The Collector's Daughter

 

'Extraordinary events sensitively told.' Lucy Jago, author of Nets for Small Fishes

 

'This is a war story that absolutely needed to be told'. Susan Meissner. Bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things

'A love story with a twist; a war story with a difference. A beautiful, compelling story of hope and humanity in war.' Nikki Marmery Author of On Wilder Seas

'Be prepared to lose your heart in the simmering heat of war-torn Spain.' Miranda Malins author of The Puritan Princess

 

'An accomplished and expansive portrait of a conflict fought on the battlefield of the human heart.' Ann Morgan, author of Reading The World

 

 

Praise for THE PRISONER'S WIFE:

- An absorbing and engaging tale of wartime bravery and endurance. Bill and Izabela are such tenderly drawn characters…I loved it!, Rachel Hore, author of Last Letter Home and The Memory Garden

- A deeply moving and compelling read… A heart-rending story beautifully told., Judith Allnat, author of The Poet’s Wife and The Silk Factory

- Heart-wrenching’, Woman & Home

Fiction

Publication DetailsNotes

THE PRISONER'S WIFE

2020

Cornerstone (UK), Berkley (US)

Their love is a death sentence. But can it keep them alive?

Czechoslovakia, 1944. In the dead of night, a farm girl and a British soldier creep through abandoned villages. Secretly married and on the run, Bill and Izabela are searching for Izabela's brother and father, who are fighting for the Czech resistance. They know their luck will not last.

Captured by the German army, it seems they must be separated - but they have prepared for this moment. By cutting her hair and pretending to be mute, Izabela successfully disguises herself as a British soldier. Together, they face the terrible conditions of a POW camp, reliant on the help of their fellow POWs to maintain their fragile deception.

Their situation is beyond dangerous. If Izabela is discovered, she and Bill - and all the men who helped them - will face lethal consequences.

ACTS OF LOVE AND WAR

2022

Cornerstone

1936. Civil war in Spain. A world on the brink of chaos . . .

21-year-old Lucy feels content with her life in Hertfordshire - not least because she lives next door to Tom and Jamie, two very different brothers for whom she has equally great affection.

But her comfortable life is turned upside down when Tom decides he must travel to Spain to fight in the bloody Spanish Civil War. He is quickly followed by Jamie who, much to Lucy's despair, is supporting General Franco.

To the dismay of her irascible father, Lucy decides that the only way to bring her boys back safely is to travel to Spain herself to persuade them to come home.

Yet when she sees the horrific effects of the war, she quickly becomes immersed in the lifesaving work the Quakers are doing to help the civilian population, many of whom are refugees.

As the war progresses and the situation becomes increasingly perilous, Lucy realises that the challenge going forward is not so much which brother she will end up with, but whether any of them will survive the carnage long enough to decide . . .

Non-Fiction

Publication DetailsNotes

Ally Pally Prison Camps

2011

Oversetps Books

Alexandra Palace in North London was a ‘concentration camp’ for 3,000 civilian internees from 1915 to 1919. The prisoners at Ally Pally had English wives and children. Many owned businesses in Britain. Many had left Germany as children themselves, or had been born in England, and spoke no German. Only their passports made them ‘enemy aliens.’

This book combines their own words from letters and memoirs, with evocative photographs, plus full colour paintings by internee George Kenner and poems by Maggie Butt.

Poetry

Publication DetailsNotes

Degrees of Twilight

2015

The London Magazine

The passage of time is tangible in Maggie Butt’s latest collection. These poems use history, memory, work and travel as lenses to examine the inevitable pains and sharp pleasures at the heart of our transient lives.

Sancti Clandestini – Undercover Saints

2012

Ward Wood Publications

A fully illustrated poetry collection, which proposes some alternative, imaginary saints, including the Patron Saints of liars, looters, rank outsiders, compulsive hoarders, old dogs and infidel girls. These undercover Patron Saints are illustrated by the staff and students of Middlesex University's BA Hons Illustration course, from famous and established artists to emerging talents.

Lipstick

2007

Greenwich Exchange

Maggie's first full poetry collection.

Quintana Roo

2003

Acumen Literary Journal, Devon

Pamphlet.

everlove

2021

The London Magazine

'Here is a profound act of poetic, elegiac empathy, a love song to us all and to the earth we love, share and ravage. a mature, devastating and ultimately redemptive work.'' Jacqueline Saphra.